Super
by lilypad5th
Summary: In a world where superheroes and humans co-exist, Leo Valdez receives a summons from Team Alpha - a group of teens with super powers just like him, and learns that being a superhero is a lot harder than it looks. Monsters, girls, and turf wars cause problems that he can't solve, and let's not forget the dreams he keeps having. Can Leo survive a year as a super? AU, R&R UPDATED 8/26
1. Introduction

**ATTENTION TO ALL READERS: A/NS ARE IMPORTANT. PLEASE DO NOT SKIP ANY, EVEN IF THIS IS YOUR FIRST TIME READING THE STORY. THEY WILL PROVIDE IMPORTANT INFORMATION ABOUT EACH CHAPTER. **

**Disclaimer: I do not own the Camp Half-Blood franchise. All rights go to author Rick Riordan.**

_**Note:**_** This is the introduction, not the first chapter. It's a twist on Piper's BMW incident and the unsaid explanation as to why Leo was sent to the Wilderness school. Everything is in third person POV, unless otherwise mentioned, yet the story is solely focused on Leo and his thoughts. If anything is inaccurate, blame the AU sign, not me. The words "Alternate Universe" are there for a reason. **

**Oh, and by the way, this intro may seem a little Liper-y, but I would like to point out that this chapter was not meant to be taken in the romantic sense, but as background information. There are no definite pairings in this story besides Percabeth and Frazel, because I tend to change my mind a lot. Leo will be paired with whomever I please. Thank you. **

**Hope you enjoy! :)**

* * *

INTRO

...

We are the hero of our own story.

- Mary McCarthy

...

* * *

_"OW…"_

_ "Stop squirming, Leo! Stay still!" commanded Piper. Leo found himself frozen in place.  
_

_ "But it hurts so much…" he whimpered.  
_

_ Piper rolled her eyes as she pulled a leech off of Leo's back._

_ "You're such an idiot," she muttered as she pulled off yet another leech. Leo howled in pain._

_ "_I'm _the idiot? You're the one who came up with this stupid idea, anyway!" he yelled at her. Piper's eyes widened._

_ "Quiet down! Someone might hear us," she whispered._

_ Leo sighed, and then yelped when Piper removed another leech from his back._

_ "Fine, I'll shut up. For now." _

_ They spent the next few minutes in silence, excluding Leo's unmanly whimpers from the pain of having his back de-leeched. Leo silently cursed his luck as the events of the day replayed in his head. _

_ It all started out when he said a not-so-nice word to the social service lady. Then he was chased into a parking lot, where he ran into Piper, who, coincidently, was being chased by authorities, too. Piper talked a very gullible man into lending them his BMW, and then Leo jumped in the driver's seat and they were on the road. The two of them were arguing whether or not to take the exit to Utah when they swerved and ended up in a lake. Piper dragged him out of the car, and that's how they ended up here, hiding in the bushes, in the middle of God-knows-where. Leo's mind was racing when Piper spoke up._

_ "Sorry," she muttered as she threw a leech into the bushes behind her._

_ "What?" asked Leo._

_ "I'm sorry." Said Piper a bit louder as she tugged at another leech._

_ "What did you say?" he asked again, holding a hand over his ear._

_ "I'M SORRY," said Piper. Leo smirked. _

_ "Just kidding, I heard you the first time. What are you sorry for?" he asked. Piper looked down._

_ "This is all my fault," she confessed. "It was wrong of me to blame you for getting us into this jam. I was hoping that maybe you could get us out…?" said Piper suggestively._

_ Leo smiled his signature smile. "No problema, Beauty Queen. Leo's got this." Then he stood, stretched, and began to walk out of the shrubbery._

_ "Wh-where are you going?" asked Piper in alarm. Leo confidently made his way out of the brush, and she stood to go after him._

_ "To fix this."_

_ She followed him until they made their way back to the parking lot where it all had started. The police where still there, crowded around an empty parking space and a hysterical guy yelling at nothing in particular. The social security lady was there. The cop that was chasing Piper was there. Piper made a funny sound that was somewhere between a groan and a burp._

_ "I don't know about this…" she whispered in Leo's ear. Leo rolled his eyes. Amateur._

_ "Just follow my lead," he whispered back. He took Piper's hand and pulled her over to the crowd._

_ "Good afternoon, everyone." Said Leo, loud enough to grab everyone's attention. Piper hid behind his back. "What seems to be the problem here?"_

_ "You!" screeched an African-American lady as she angrily made her way towards Leo. She was the woman responsible for his placement in every foster home he'd lived in since he was eight. Leo had a bone to pick with her._

_ "How _dare _you do something as idiotic as this!" she screamed. "Do you know how badly this reflects on me? Do you have any idea what the board will do when they find out –"_

_ "Ellen, _please," _said Leo, holding up a hand. _That _shut her up. "Let's all be civil here and examine the situation. May someone please explain to me what is going on?"_

_ A cop stepped forward. "This girl - " he began, pointing an accusing finger at Piper. " - is charged with stealing two diamond rings, a necklace, a flat-screen TV, a 2010 BMW, and performing vandalism in a period of two weeks. It is my duty to apprehend her for her various crimes –"_

_ "Save it, Joe," said Leo. "Now, let's all be reasonable here. We're _twelve. _Neither of us can drive, and I'm pretty sure neither one of us is capable of stealing any of those items. It sounds to me that the wielders of those items weren't doing a very good job at protecting them –"_

_ "Cut the sass, kiddo." Said a voice from behind the group. Everyone spun around to see who had spoken. As the figure emerged from the crowd with a briefcase in hand, Leo's heart began to sink. _

_ "Oh God…" Piper muttered behind him as the woman made her way towards them._

_ "Who's she?" asked Leo over his shoulder._

_ "Jane…" Piper said the name with such disgust, he thought she was going to spit._

_ "Piper." Said Jane as she regarded them with cold eyes. She glared at Piper, and Piper returned the gesture._

_ "Your father will _not be _happy with you, Ms. McLean," she said in a clipped voice. "I cannot begin to comprehend why you would do such a childish and inhumane thing as steal this poor, poor, man's – "she gestured to the hysterical guy " - private property. What do you have to say for yourself?"_

_ Piper looked down, ashamed, but Leo wasn't really paying attention. McLean? Where had he heard that name before?_

_ Leo's thoughts were interrupted when someone took hold of his wrist. _

"You _are coming with _me," _said the social worker. She yanked his arm – hard – towards a sleek, black van at the edge of the lot that Leo knew all too well. He tried to fight her grip, but it was useless. She was too strong._

_ Piper reached out to grab Leo, but Jane held her back. She tried to break free, but Jane's grip was as steely as the social worker's. She squirmed in frustration._

_ "Wait! This isn't fair!" Leo heard Piper yell as he was shoved into the van. "You can't just – " but Piper was cut off when Ellen the Evil Social Worker slammed the car door shut._

_ Leo gazed guiltily at Piper as the van backed out of the parking lot. How could he let this happen? He not only got himself in trouble, but Piper, too. He could only hope Jane would let her off the hook, but he doubted that would happen in a million years. _

_ Leo slid down in the backseat of the van as Ellen yelled various complaints._

_ "You little – "_

_ "I ought to – "_

_ "When the court finds out, young man –"_

_ Leo wasn't really listening. He never did. He wasn't listening to the guards as they led him down the hallway of his foster home to get his things. He wasn't listening when the judge sentenced him to boarding school. And Leo sure was not listening to Ellen's complaints the entire drive to Nevada, but Leo did hear one thing – the name of his new containment facility. He turned it over in his head again and again, dreading the moment he would arrive. Even the name sounded horrible._

_ The Wilderness School._

_Yuck._


	2. Chapter 1

**Welcome to chapter 1! :)**

_**Note:**_** This is the real first chapter. The previous page was the introduction. I would like to point out that this chapter has "fast forwarded" to what is now the present. Everyone is older, and in a different setting. Also, the geography is kind of wack. All the streets mentioned are real, but 124****th**** street and ****4****th**** and 5****th**** Avenue aren't exactly in walking distance (unless you fell like walking around for three and a half hours).**

**Disclaimer: I do not own the rights to the Camp Half-Blood franchise. Rick Riordan does.**

**Have a happy chapter! :)**

* * *

CHAPTER ONE

...

You cannot be a hero without being a coward.

- George Bernard Shaw

...

* * *

"Leo, can you help me with these boxes here?" asked a voice from downstairs.

Leo Valdez put down the backpack he was carrying on the bed to his left and ran into the hallway.

"Sure, Adam." He replied from the top of the staircase. Leo ran back into his new bedroom, grabbed his phone, slipped it into his back pocket, and ran back down the hallway. He slid down the stair rail and walked out of what would be the living room into the kitchen.

Adam Bridger was hunched over a large box labeled "Neena's Stuff", huffing and puffing while trying to lift it up. Leo brushed Adam aside and picked up the box with almost no effort at all. Adam, who was still trying to catch his breath, snorted at Leo.

"Showoff," he muttered.

"Wimp." retorted Leo as Adam stuck his tongue out in response. Leo carried the box upstairs into the master bedroom, rested it down on the bed. Then he dashed into his bedroom, grabbed his coat, and rushed back down the stairs.

"I'm going out," said Leo as he pulled his coat on. Leo walked out of the living room into the hall, and Adam poked his head out from the doorway.

"Be back before dinner!" called Adam.

"I will!" Leo called back while opening the front door of the apartment. Then he walked out into the hallway and closed the door behind him.

* * *

The past few weeks Leo spent with his new foster family, the Bridgers, mainly consisted of packing and unpacking. Leo had been placed with them a month ago, after he had run away from his last home in Michigan. As soon as Leo had moved into their home, they packed up their things and moved to New York City, which was a far cry from their old place in Georgia. Leo liked it better here. Adam and Neena Bridger weren't as easy to get used to, though. Neena (or Miss Neena, as she preferred to be called) was an old hag who wore enough wigs and makeup to supply a whole circus. Adam was her 33-year-old, unemployed son who was staying with her until he got back on his feet. It was a likable place; neither Adam nor Neena cared what he did or ate or how long he was out or anything like that. They weren't even concerned about his lack of friends. They were totally indifferent to him…and he kind of liked it.

Leo left the apartment building and strolled down 124th Street in silence as his thoughts ran through his mind at a hundred miles per second (he blamed the ADHD). Leo would be starting his sophomore year in three days. Miss Neena had already enrolled him at some prep school three blocks up the street, which Leo felt was a little too close to home. She had explained to him that the school would give him a 'positive high school experience' and that it had an 'enriching educational program'. Leo interpreted it as 'more freaks' and 'more classes to fail in'.

Leo bought a hot dog from a vendor on 4th Avenue, only to discover that he wasn't hungry and threw it away on 5th. Then he stopped by a froyo place and grabbed a cup. Leo was shoving spoonfuls of chocolate yogurt into his mouth and trying to open the door to leave, when a random girl tried to walk in at the same time and they bumped into each other. Leo dropped his frozen yogurt on the floor, slipped in it, and landed bottom-first on the ground. The girl followed suit.

"OW…" said Leo as he slowly got back onto his feet. His butt hurt like hell. The girl stood up after him.

"Sorry…" she muttered, rubbing her rump, too. She swept a glossy black curl behind her ear, and then reached down to grab Leo's now empty frozen yogurt cup. She offered it to him.

"I think this was yours…"

"You think?" said Leo somewhat harshly. He yanked the yogurt cup from her hand and brushed off his pants. The girl's freckled face turned red.

"Hey! No need to be snippy. I said 'sorry' didn't I?" she told him. Then she tugged at a bag on her shoulder and huffed.

"Geez…some people…" She said as she turned to leave the restaurant. Leo stuck his tongue out at the back of her head as she left. Leo had to admit, he was being kind of snippy, more than usual. He threw away the empty frozen yogurt cup, and didn't bother to buy another one. One day in New York City and the place was already rubbing off on him.

* * *

When Leo came home and opened the door to the apartment, he was surprised to find that most of the boxes that lined the hallway were gone. He figured that Adam had taken care of them. Leo walked down the hall and made a left into the living room.

Miss Neena was there, watching TV on Adam's iPad. She wore her faded floral nightgown and her glasses with the pearl chains and a pair of bunny slippers. Leo plopped down next to her on the ugly plastic covered couch she loved so much and announced, "I'm home!" Miss Neena didn't look up.

Then Neena shoved the iPad in his face. "Look at this!" she commanded. Leo took the iPad from her hands. When he saw what she was watching, Leo was like, _okay…_Miss Neena had been watching the Oprah Channel. Big whoop. He didn't see what was so special about that.

"Um…you want me to watch OWN?"

Miss Neena took the iPad from his hands, tapped the screen a couple times, and then handed the iPad back to him. "Here," she said as she dropped it onto his lap. Leo looked down. It was today's breaking news. Leo examined the scene. A reporter was motioning to something in the background while she spoke. Huge slabs of asphalt were all over the ground. Water spewed up from a broken hydrant. All of the buildings in the area were totally demolished, like there had been an earthquake and no survivors. Leo listened to the reporter drone on about the incident.

" – Team Alpha was on the scene. When questioned, Team Leader Masteria told authorities that they would further investigate as to who was behind this, and pay for all damages caused – "

"Where is this?" asked Leo without looking up from the screen.

"Downtown," said Miss Neena in a grave voice. Her hand flew to her heart.

"Lord! What a time to have moved!" she cried. "Crazy terrorists always tearing up the city –"

"It wasn't terrorists, Mom," said Adam. He walked in from the kitchen area with a plate of nachos and a can of Sprite. He sat on a plastic-covered armchair next to the couch and continued on, "It was those supers. There's nothing good that comes out of them." Then Adam took a long slurp of his Sprite.

Something stirred deep down in the recesses of Leo's mind. Something he had almost forgotten about. Leo shook off the feeling.

"What did they do?" Leo asked Adam. Adam put his soda on the floor and peered at Leo.

"They trashed the town, that's what they did," Adam told him. "They do tons of things. They take people's girlfriends and ruin people's jobs and evict them from their houses and – "

"Oh shut up, boy." Snapped Miss Neena. "Adam's just bitter over his girlfriend leaving him for a super. He blames them for everything: pollution, traffic jams, global warming – "

"It's the heat vision, I swear!" yelled Adam. He turned and glared at Leo.

"Listen to me, kid. Supers are nothing but trouble. Don't trust anything they say, you hear?" he told Leo through the nachos in his mouth. Leo was playing with his hands in his lap, and didn't meet Adam's gaze.

"Yeah." He mumbled.

"Good." said Adam in satisfaction. He belched. Then he reached out to Leo.

"Now hand over that iPad, kid. I'm gonna miss the big game."

While Adam watched the big game, Leo had gone upstairs to his bedroom. He emptied the contents of his backpack onto his bed. All there was was a brush, a picture, and some wire. The social worker told him that Adam and Miss Neena would buy him anything else he'd need.

Leo plopped down on the bed, and timidly picked up the photo. It was one of his favorites. In the picture, little 5-year-old Leo was smiling and laughing and having a generally good time. Nowadays, days like that were scarce to come by. Next to Leo sat his mom. She was smiling and laughing, even though earlier that morning, Leo had learned later on, she had lost her job. He remembered that day like it was yesterday. Mom had taken him to the park, and she had packed ham sandwiches and chips and salsa and everything else Leo loved. Leo blinked as he gazed at the photo, and didn't realize that he was crying until a tear fell onto his hand.

Leo cursed as he wiped his face with the back of his sleeve. Then he stuffed the photo and the brush back into the bag and rested it on the floor. Leo picked up the wire.

He tinkered with it a bit, pulling nuts and bolts and other things out of his pocket and adding them to his creation, but his mind was elsewhere. He gazed out of the window next to his bed at the New York City skyline and bit his lip. Leo thought about what Adam had said. _Supers are nothing but trouble. _

Trouble. That's what Leo was.

Leo gazed down at the creation in his hand, a tiny, miniature bird. It was incredibly detailed, down to every groove in every little mechanical feather. Then Leo closed his eyes.

He closed his hand and lit it ablaze.


	3. Chapter 2

**Happy 4****th**** of July to all Americans! Hope you have a great Independence Day! :)))**

**There are a whole bunch of surprises coming in the next few chapters. I hope you guys like this one! :)))**

**Don't worry, the superhero-y stuff is on its way. I just need to put the whole thing into drive first. Hope you understand. :)**

**Disclaimer: I do not own the Camp Half-Blood franchise. All rights go to Rick Riordan.**

* * *

CHAPTER TWO

...

Show me a hero, and I'll write you a tragedy.

- F. Scott Fitzgerald.

...

* * *

_The first thing Leo remembered was running._

_He was running, running like a madman. He was in a tunnel. He remembered that the air was thick with smoke, and that it was hard to see or breathe. He didn't know where he was. All he knew was that he was running from a fire that wanted to consume him.  
_

_He couldn't see anything ahead of him. The only prospect he had of where he was heading to was that once he reached his destination, he would be safe from the fiery inferno. He continued to run._

_ The air became so thick it was poisonous. The smoke began to make his eyes water. He was coughing, gasping for air when he saw something ahead, shining like a beacon in the darkness._

_ He saw a light. A light at the end of the tunnel._

_ He stole a glance behind him. The fire was leaping from object to object, spreading like a disease, but he did not give up hope. Leo kept on running._

_ As he was running towards the light, he made out the silhouette of a woman, arms outstretched. As he surged on, he made out some of her features. Dark, curly hair; warm, dark brown eyes. He took in a sharp breath. It was his mom._

_He ran faster, faster; He ran faster than he ever had before. Tears filled he eyes. _

She was smiling.

_ He spread his arms, ready to fall into her embrace, when he stumbled on his own two feet, and, to his horror, he tripped and fell. In a heartbeat, he found himself sprawled on the ground._

_ Everything hurt._

_ The fire roared behind him. He quickly tried to push himself up, tried to put his focus back on his_ madre_ – but she was gone. _

She vanished.

_ Poof – disappeared, just like his new-found hope of getting out of there._

_ Before he could move, the flames engulfed him. They formed a circle around him, cutting off whatever ties he had to the end of that tunnel, and the end of the tunnel went dark. As the flames pressed forward, Leo could feel the intense heat. The flames clung to everything: his clothes, his skin, everything. He screamed._

_ He sat there, wailing out in pain as the fire roasted him alive, and he thought to myself, "So _this _is what it's like being burned, huh?" He didn't even stop to think how it was even possible that he actually feel the heat._

_ Just when he was about to stop crawling forward, trying to reach for the now non-existent light, the flames shifted. A wall of fire was now before him, and as he watched it grow taller and taller, he realized that it was alive, and that the shifting flames now resembled the sleeping face of a woman. But this time, it was not the face of his mother, but of someone he did not know, and as he watched in horrified fascination, two hands emerged from the wall of flames, and reached down to grab him._

_ His death is so quick; He didn't even get time to scream._

* * *

Leo's eyes flew open to the sound of thunder.

He was sweating and panting, like he had just run a marathon, but he was relieved. The tunnel, the fire…it had all been a dream. He had not been roasted alive. He was safe, just like every other time he woke up from that crazy, recurring nightmare.

Leo craned his neck to see his alarm clock on the dresser to his right. It was 1:09 in the morning. All that nightmare biz made him lose a lot of sleep. He groaned and turned over, pulled the covers closer around him, and closed his eyes. He tried to fall asleep to the sound of heavy rain pelting against the bedroom window, but a couple of lightning strikes and thunder bolts later his eyes flew open. He groaned once again, this time pulling the covers over his head.

_It's just a nightmare, _he told himself as more thunder shook the sky outside his window. _Go back to sleep. The fire can't get you._

That thought calmed him down a bit. Leo took a few deeps breaths, listening to the sound of the rain pelt the fire escape outside. His eyes slid closed, and after one long night, he finally fell asleep.

* * *

Three days later, and it was the first day of school.

Miss Neena had bought Leo an outfit for the occasion, but Leo stuffed the khakis, sweater vest, and necktie in a box at the bottom of his closet and wore an old Simpson's T-shirt and a pair of jeans instead.

Despite Adam's offer to drop him off, Leo decided to walk to school this morning. After all, it was only three blocks away.

Leo pulled on his coat as he walked down the street from the apartment complex. For an August day, the air was abnormally cold; Leo could see his breath. As he walked down the block, Leo saw yellow school buses full of kids make their way down the busy New York roads, and crossing guards help children across the street. It was just another typical first day of school.

When Leo reached Westfield Prep, he nearly barfed. The school was exactly like he expected it to be.

There was a colorful welcome banner hanging over the front doors, where hundreds of well-dressed snotty kids were chatting and socializing. The school looked like a Cathedral. It was taller than the other buildings on the block, and had a huge window in the front. It even had a couple of gargoyle looking thingies at the end of the staircase leading to the doors. The only thing that made it look different from a typical Catholic Church was a huge statue of a guy holding the world sitting in the middle of the courtyard. Looked like statue dude was having a hard time, because he was hunched over the weight of the world. Leo started up the stairs when some guys bumped into him and nearly knocked him off of his feet. He dropped his books to the ground.

"Hey!" he yelled as he regained his balance, but the students had disappeared into the crowd. Leo picked up his books and grunted some not-so-nice words about Westfield Prep.

Ugh, this was going to be worse than the Wilderness School. Leo knew he was going to hate it here.

Leo turned around to go back home to face two smiling teens.

One was a blonde girl with blue eyes wearing all pink. The other was blonde guy with green eyes wearing all blue. They both had clipboards in their hands. Their bright, joyful smiles crept Leo out, and he backed up.

"Welcome to Westfield!" said the girl in the cheeriest, happiest voice he had ever heard. She shoved a pair of jazz hands in his face. Then the guy spoke up.

"I'm Loren, and this is Lola. Are you a freshman, sophomore, junior or senior?" he asked in a voice that mirrored the girl's.

"Um, sophomore," muttered Leo uncomfortably. Then Lola scribbled something on her clipboard.

"I'm sorry, but what's your name?" she asked.

"Leo," he said, eyeing the two wearily. He wasn't so sure that giving Loren and Lola his name was the smartest idea.

"Here you go, Leo!" said Lola excitedly as she slapped something onto Leo's chest. Leo looked down.

She had given them one of those "Hello! My name is…" stickers, except his read, "Hello! My name is DIE, LEO". Leo blinked at the name tag a couple of times.

"Bye!" chimed the two of them in sync as they moved on to the next unsuspecting teen. Leo made a mental note to avoid those two for the rest of the year.

* * *

The next thing Leo knew, the assembly was starting, and all of the kids that were hanging outside were hoarded into the auditorium. There were murals painted all over the auditorium walls that had pictures of diverse, smiling faces, and posters that had corny sayings, like _"Keep Trying!"_ and _"You have the Need to Succeed!"_ and crap like that. Leo sat down in between a Goth chick and a skater dude and wished he had brought his iPod as a short, plump guy in a suit walked to the mic in the front of the auditorium. He was a big man, with wide shoulders, brawny arms, and a thick neck. But his head looked as if it didn't belong to his body – it was small and round and topped with a fuzz of extremely short hair. The guy cleared his throat into the microphone.

"Welcome, students!" boomed the voice of the man. "I, Principal Thweat – " he said "Thweat" like "tweet" " – would like to welcome you all to our school this year. I would also like to thank the welcoming committee, Miss Erin and Miss Wren, for being so kind as to welcoming our students today. Now for today's agenda." The principal pulled a crumpled sheet of paper out of his back pocket and cleared his throat.

"All freshman will go to Ms. Hartman's classroom, room 108. Sophomores will go to Mr. Osborne's room, room 105, across the hall. Juniors will be with Mrs. Reilly in room 118, and seniors in room 121 with Mr. Yew. Now for todays lunch menu – " and then Principal Thweat rambled on a bunch of useless information that Leo took no interest in.

When the assembly was over, all of the students spilled out the auditorium and into the hallways. Miss Neena had gotten him all of the information that he needed about the school, like his locker number and combination, his homeroom number, teacher, schedule, etc. So Leo wandered around for a while, dodging students rushing down the hallways to find their lockers and get to class. He ripped of the "Hello! My name is DIE, LEO" sticker and threw it in a trash can. He was about to look for the bathroom before remembering what class he was supposed to be in and started heading for room 105. After a long while of searching, Leo saw a middle-aged guy standing at a door, holding a poster with an arrow pointing into the classroom, that read "Wemocle sormpoohes!" in big, loopy letters and glitter glue that Leo's dyslexia could not decipher. It probably said "Welcome, sophomores!" Leo sighed and walked in.

The classroom was mostly empty, except for a few kids sitting in the front. Leo took a seat in the back, put his backpack down on the floor, and starting drumming his fingers on the desk. He glanced around the classroom. There were a bunch of charts and flyers on one wall, and cabinets lining another. The teacher's desk was in the front of the class, and there were two windows facing the parking lot in front of the school. Leo slid back in his chair and watched as more students filed into the classroom.

There was a tall girl wearing glasses that sat down near the front. Leo pegged her as a Brainiac. Then some kid in all black wearing a leather jacket sat down alone in one corner and put in his ear buds. Leo tagged him as an Outcast. Then a group of giggling girls and guys wandered in and all sat down in the middle. Leo figured that they were probably the Popular/Regulars.

More kids came in that Leo didn't really take note of. After the Populars walked in there were a couple of redheads, three blondes, a pair of twins, a blue guy that Leo could only guess was a super, and one guy who was so tall, he had to duck under the door frame to get in. There were a couple seats left, one in front of Leo and one in the very front. Then, when one last student came in, and everyone was settled down, the teacher strode in and closed the door behind him. He put down his sign and stood in front of his desk to face the class, then cleared his throat.

"Good morning students," he began. He was tall, Leo noted, and he had a five o'clock shadow that made Leo assume that he hadn't shaved in a while.

"I am Mr. Osborne - " he continued. Then he put his hands together and looked across the classroom at each student.

" - Or you can call me _The Great and Powerful Oz." _Some kids snorted. Others just smiled. Leo rolled his eyes as the teacher's attempt at humor and kept drumming his fingers on the desk. The Great and Powerful Oz went behind his desk and reached down to grab something. He emerged with a bag of apples.

"These are for you guys," he said as he began to pass them out to each student. "I know it's supposed to be the other way around, but what's the fun in that?" he said as he walked past the empty desk in front of Leo.

Mr. Osborne stopped in front of Leo and pulled out a green apple. He smiled down at him.

"For you," he said with that energetic twinkle in his eye. Leo hesitantly took the apple and shoved it in his backpack, keeping a wary eye on the teacher as he moved on to the next desk.

Suddenly, the classroom door swung open.

"Sorry I'm late!" said a blonde guy as he walked in. "There was this thing downtown and…" he trailed off, realizing that everyone was looking at him. Nothing about him really struck Leo as interesting. He had this rugged kind of look, like he had just come back from a day at the beach. Leo observed as his sky blue eyes darted around for a seat.

"It's fine, Mr.…" Mr. Oz trailed off.

"Grace," the boy finished. "Jason Grace." He took the empty seat in the front. Mr. Osborne reached down into his bag.

"Ah, yes. I remember you from last year. Here you go," he said as he tossed Jason an apple. Leo thought he wouldn't catch it, but Jason caught the apple in mid-air.

"Nice catch," complimented Mr. Oz. He was clearly impressed. Leo was too.

Jason looked uncomfortable.

"Um…thanks."

"Now, class." Oz began as he made his way back to the front of the classroom. "I have some worksheets for you." The majority of the class groaned.

"Oh, calm down. It's not math. It's just a little exercise for you guys to get to know each other better. Now, to complete the worksheet, you must get into groups of two and fill in the Venn diagram – " The door swung open once again.

"Sorry I'm late!" said a girl this time. She had long, dark hair, tan skin, and…she looked very familiar. Leo couldn't place a name, but he knew that he'd seen this girl before.

She had the same excuse as Jason Grace: "There was this _huge _thing going on downtown, and I kind of got stuck in traffic…" she smiled sheepishly as the class stared at her. Mr. Osborne smiled and reached into the bag again.

"That's fine, Miss. Here's an apple." He tossed her a red apple, and she caught it. Mr. Oz motioned to the seat in front of Leo.

"Take a seat, will you?"

The girl smiled, walked over to the desk, and sat down. Leo watched her cautiously, still trying to figure out who she was.

Mr. Osborne began to pass out the worksheets. Leo plucked his sheet out of the teacher's hands and looked it over. It looked just like any other Venn diagram, with two big circles that linked in the middle for contrast and comparison. Leo pulled a pencil from his backpack and wrote his name at the top of the page.

"Everybody get in groups on three. One, two…" the students looked around for partners.

"Three!"

Everyone quickly got up from their seats, darting across the classroom to call dibs on each other, everyone except for Leo. At least five girls rushed over to Jason, which was no surprise. All the Populars paired off with each other. The Braniacs with broke up into pairs of two. The Outcasts gathered in their various corners. Soon, the only ones left were Leo, a blonde chick, and the girl who had been late. The three of them looked to Mr. Osborne for instructions.

"I thought for sure that there were twenty-two students…" he thought aloud as he rubbed his chin. Then he shrugged. "Oh, well then. The three of you, pass me your papers."

Leo and the other two got up from their desks and handed their worksheets to Mr. Oz, standing by his desk awkwardly. Leo watched as Mr. Oz pulled a Sharpie from his pocket and drew additional circles at the bottom of each of their Venn diagrams, so that all three circles on each paper appeared to be linked together. He handed the sheets back to them.

"Here you go," he said as he handed the papers back to them, the shimmer in his eyes catching Leo's attention once again. "Have fun in your group of three."

Everyone busily got to work. Leo sat at his desk, and the other girls – the blonde and the brunette – had pulled up chairs next to him. Leo waited as they wrote their names on their worksheets.

"Okay…" the blonde girl began as she scribbled her name onto her paper.

"I'm Charlotte, you are?" she asked as she looked up. Charlotte looked at Leo with crystal blue eyes. She was really pretty. Leo blinked a couple of time before answering.

"I'm, um, Leo."

The other girl glanced at Leo, but he wasn't really paying attention.

"Let's get on with this, then. Leo, you'll be the first circle, I'll be the second, and, um – " she glanced at the other girl. "Sorry, but what's your name again?"

"Piper," said the brunette.

"Piper, yes. Piper, you'll be the third circle. Got it?" She didn't wait for an answer.

"Okay then, let's start: How many of us like reading?" Charlotte raised a hand, but Leo and Piper's remained down. Charlotte cocked her head to the side.

"You don't like reading?" she asked, puzzled.

"Nah," answered Leo. "I'm dyslexic. I can't read very well."

Piper looked surprised.

"Seriously? I am, too. Might as well put that down."

Leo and Piper both wrote the words "Have dyslexia" in the little section where their two circles linked. Charlotte wrote "Likes to read" in big print in her circle. The three of them filled in their papers so that they were identical.

"Let's try again: How many of us have siblings?"

Charlotte raised her hand once again, but Leo and Piper remained indifferent.

"Are you serious?" asked Charlotte in bewilderment. She tucked a long lock of straight blonde hair behind her ear. The two of them glanced at each other and shrugged. Leo watched as Charlotte rolled her eyes and scribbled the information down. Leo and Piper did the same.

Charlotte asked another question: "Anybody here have superpowers?"

Piper's hand stayed down. So did Charlotte's. The dream Leo had a few days before came back to mind.

His mom, the tunnel, the woman in the fire – all of the events of his dream came rushing back, but Leo forced them back out of his mind. He kept his hand down, and they all wrote "No superpowers" in the space where all three of their circles linked.

* * *

The next two questions turned out the same: Leo and Piper both hated English class and One Direction. The whole thing was getting nowhere, but Leo did find out that Charlotte had three brothers and was from Kentucky. The only things Leo and Piper didn't have in common were that Piper was from California while he was from Texas, Leo was a meat-eater while she was a vegetarian, and that Piper sucked at Math while he was a Mathematic genius. The three of them had something else in common, too: they all hated Westfield, which wasn't really a surprise.

After a while, they got bored with their worksheets and started to make small chat. Piper told them about the time her and her dad were at a bank and a robber walked in, smacked his forehead because he forgot his mask, and went back home to get it. Charlotte entertained them with a story about a girl named Isabelle who went to the school 50 years ago and got stuck in a locker in the girl's locker room. Legend was, firefighters couldn't get her out and she died. Leo made Charlotte give him the locker number out of curiosity. Leo cracked a couple jokes and they all laughed. Leo didn't want to admit it, but he was actually having fun.

"Time to hand back your sheets," declared Mr. Osborne. Some students actually groaned. Mr. Osborne came around the classroom and began to pick up the papers. Leo checked his watch, and was surprised to find that a whole hour had gone by since class had started. Mr. Oz came by and picked up Leo, Piper, and Charlotte's papers. Then Mr. Osborne walked back to the front of the classroom. Outside in the hallway, the bell rang.

The students began to get out of their seats. "Hope you guys have a nice first day," said Mr. Osborne as the students began to file out the classroom. "Enjoy your apples!"

Leo grabbed his bag and threw it over his shoulder. He gathered his things and followed the other students out the classroom.

* * *

Leo checked his schedule and headed down the hallway to his next class, Science. He stopped to take a drink from a water fountain when someone put a hand on his shoulder.

Leo spun around. It was Piper.

"So, Leo," she began as she put her hands on her hips, "What exactly happened after that little BMW incident?" she asked, raising an eyebrow.

Leo smiled.

"I _knew_ that was you. What are you doing in New York?" he asked, curious. They started walking down the hallway.

"It's my dad's job," she said. "He got this deal to work on a mo – "

Piper cut herself off.

"On a what?" asked Leo, even though he already suspected what she was going to say. Piper sighed and looked down at the floor.

"A movie. He's working on a movie. My dad's an actor."

"Cool!" said Leo. "So, like, if I wanted to meet some hot actress chicks – "

"I don't think so," said Piper with a laugh. "Way to get ahead of yourself, buddy. No one's sneaking anyone on set to meet a bunch of hot girls. Got it?"

Leo mock sighed.

"Fine." He huffed, and then he began to pout. Piper shoved him.

"Stop making that face. You look like roadkill."

"Well, thanks. Dead deer is exactly what I was going for.

Piper rolled her eyes. "What class are you heading to?"

"Science. You know, I used to think that if you mixed a bunch a chemicals – "

"Piper!" called a voice from behind them. They both spun around to see Jason Grace running towards them. He slowed down and stopped in front of them, regarding Leo warily.

"Who's he?" he asked looking Leo up and down.

"I'm Leo," he said before Piper could introduce him. He was very capable of introducing himself, thank you very much.

"I'm a friend of Piper's. You're Jason, right?"

"Yeah…" said Jason hesitantly. "Nice to meet you, Leo."

Jason turned to Piper, and grabbed her arm. He pulled her aside.

"We need to talk," Leo heard Jason say in a low voice. Piper bit her lip and glanced at Leo apologetically.

"Sorry, Leo. I got to go. See you at lunch!" she said as her and Jason started down the hallway. Leo watched them disappear down the hallway.

* * *

The rest of the day was uneventful. Science was a bore, History was drab, and Leo was sure that he totally flunked that worksheet in English. He did not see Piper at lunch. Jason wasn't there either, which surprised him. Leo wondered where they had gone.

After lunch, there was Study Hall. Leo spent the hour sketching designs for machinery. Then, there was Music. Leo was pretty sure the teacher put him in the back of the Choir for a reason. Last but not least, there was Math, and Leo spent most of his time skimming through lessons and completing worksheets. Then it was time to go home.

* * *

Leo walked down the block towards home, the events of the day playing over in his head. It had been a pretty good first day of school. He had met Charlotte and Piper and Jason…oh yeah, Charlotte. Leo had almost forgotten about her. He hadn't seen her since Homeroom. He would have to look for her the next day, he decided.

Leo walked to the apartment complex and into the lobby of the main building. Then he took the elevator up to his floor. He walked down the hallway, counting the room numbers until he got to the apartment, and then unlocked the door.

The door swung open to the hallway. Leo rested his backpack on a table by the entrance.

"I'm back from school!" he yelled out into the house. It was eerily quiet. Where was Miss Neena? Where was Adam? Shouldn't they still be unpacking?

Leo walked down the hallway and made a right into the living room. No one was there. Adam had set up the TV the day before, but it was not on. Leo glanced up the staircase.

"Guys!" he called up, but no one answered. Leo heard something crash behind him, and he quickly spun around to see a broken flowerpot lying on the ground in the hallway, dirt and water strewn across the hardwood floor.

Leo took a deep breath. This was creepy. What the what was going on –

To Leo's surprise, the dirt began to shift. Startled, Leo backed into a wall. The dirt continued to shift and shape itself, molding into the ominous shape of a face. Leo cautiously walked towards the dirt-face.

From where he was standing, Leo could see the soil form the face of a woman. Her eyes were closed, like she was sleeping, and the dirt continued to shift and sort as Leo looked on in horrified fascination.

Then the dirt settled. Leo took one step closer to get a better look. When he saw the entire face, he backed into the wall once again, horrified.

He knew that face. He'd seen it many times before.

It was the face in the fire.

It was the woman who had killed his mom.

* * *

**Well, I am entirely satisfied. I'm pretty sure that this is the longest chapter I've ever written. And PLEASE DO NOT take the whole "Leo & Piper" thing in the romantic sense. They're my number one brotp. **

**Please review! It would brighten my day! :D**


	4. Chapter 3

**So, welcome to Chapter 3. *confetti***

**Disclaimer: I do not own the Percy Jackson and the Olympians series. I only own Charlotte, Adam, Miss Neena and the other OCs.**

* * *

CHAPTER 3

…

Hard times don't create heroes. It is during the hard times when the 'hero' within us is revealed.

- Bob Riley

…

* * *

That night, Leo could not sleep.

He lay in his bed, staring up at the dull, gray ceiling above with wide eyes.

The face in the dirt seemed to haunt his dreams.

_"Leo…"_

He wasn't sure if he was imagining or not, but Leo swore that he could hear the voice calling his name in the darkness. The shadows seemed to shift and stir in every corner, keeping Leo alert and awake.

Leo turned over and pulled the covers closer around his body. A cold breeze blew in from his open window, which only gave the room an eerier feel. The whispers in the darkness seemed to drown out the various sounds of New York City. Her voice spoke out above the others.

_"Leo…"_

There it was again. A shiver went up Leo's spine as he pulled the covers up to his chin. His eyes scanned the shadows, but found nothing, which only made it creepier. Leo, afraid, pulled the covers over his head.

This was crazy. Part of Leo wished he that was just being paranoid, that all of this was a figment of his imagination. But it _wasn't._ None of it was. The woman in the dirt, the face in the fire…they were all real. There was no getting out of it. Leo didn't know at first, but he was in as much danger as he was terrified.

Another cold breeze blew in, but Leo didn't feel it. He closed his eyes, trying to block out the voices. After a long while of shivering in the darkness, he finally fell asleep.

* * *

Leo opened his eyes.

Daylight poured in through his bedroom window, and he could see particles dancing in the sunlight. He groggily sat up, and ran a hand through his curly, dark hair.

There were no more voices; the room sounded unnervingly quiet, but Leo took that as a good thing.

He scratched his head as he glanced around the room. Everything was as it should've been.

Leo stretched before getting out of bed, not bothering to make it up. He stumbled out of his room and into the hallway, and made his way to the bathroom door at the end of the hall. Leo turned the knob.

The bathroom door was locked. Leo cursed and knocked on the door.

"Give me a minute," came the voice of Adam from the opposite side. Leo could hear the sound of water running on the other side of the door, and the voice of Adam made Leo give a sigh of relief.

Adam and Miss Neena must've came home later the night before, when Leo was asleep, or probably earlier that morning. Leo didn't care. They were here now, and it made him feel a lot safer than he had felt before.

"Adam, can you hurry up and shave your invisible beard?" Leo asked impatiently, giving the door a little kick. Hey, just because they made him feel safer didn't mean he would be any nicer. Leo heard a low growl on the other side.

"Just because of that, you have to wait five more minutes." Came Adam's muffled and irritated reply.

Leo groaned in protest. "No fair!"

He really had to use the bathroom. Leo doubted Miss Neena would let him use hers (she had explained to him a few days before that applying her make-up was an "8-step process" that required "much precision" and "no interruptions"). He hopped around in circles, waiting for Adam to hurry up and open the stupid door.

Right when Leo was about to give up, the door swung open.

"No more invisible beard jokes." Leo heard Adam say as he rushed into the bathroom. He locked the door behind him.

Half an hour later, Leo headed downstairs, fully dressed in a long-sleeved T-shirt and a pair of jeans.

Once in the living room, Leo glanced at the table by the front door. There was no broken flowerpot or dirt on the floor, as if yesterday's little incident had never happened. Either someone had cleaned it up last night, or…Leo didn't stick around to think about it. He headed straight to the kitchen.

Leo found Miss Neena still in her nightgown and bunny slippers, hovering over the stove, and was surprised to see un-employed Adam wearing an employee-looking suit. Leo raised an eyebrow as he walked over and sat down at the kitchen table.

"What's going on?" Leo asked Adam as he leaned back in his chair. Adam put down the newspaper he was holding in one hand and reached up to fix his collar. He took a sip from the cup of coffee in his hand.

"I'm going into town today," Adam replied curtly. Oooh_,_ thought Leo. He even _sounded _official. "I have a job interview at Red Lobster on 8th street." Leo's eyebrows shot up in surprise.

"So you're going to be a waiter now?" asked Leo, a smile dangerously tugging at the corner of his mouth. "That's an upgrade. Didn't you used to be a janitor or something – "

"Leo," hissed Miss Neena. She took her attention off of the eggs she was cooking and spun around to glare at him. "Mind your manners, boy. Adam hasn't had a job in five years. Be grateful; now he can finally support his own sorry butt and move out – "

"MOM," Adam said rather loudly. Leo smirked.

"We've been over this," Adam said through clenched teeth. He took a minute to calm down. Then Adam cleared his throat and adjusted his tie. He stood, still holding his mug of coffee.

"I'll be on my way," he said. Then Adam headed for the door. He left the room, and Leo heard Adam open the apartment door, step out into the hallway, and close the door behind him.

When Adam was gone, Leo turned to face Neena.

"You think he's going to get the job?" asked Leo.

"Nah," answered Miss Neena thoughtfully. "He'll probably just end up getting lost on his way there and head back home." She told him. "It happened twice before."

Leo watched thoughtfully as Miss Neena poured two cups of coffee, his mind elsewhere. Then she shuffled over to the table and handed Leo a mug. He took the hot mug in his hands, and waved away the napkin Neena offered him. She sat down on the chair opposite him, and stirred her drink.

There was a long silence as Leo sipped his coffee.

"So, how was school yesterday?" Miss Neena asked nonchalantly as Leo downed his daily amount of caffeine. The events of the day before rushed back to him, and he nearly choked on his cup of Joe.

Crap. He had been trying to forget about yesterday (mainly Dirt-Face), but Miss Neena just had to come and ruin it.

"It was…" Leo wiped his mouth with his sleeve and tried to come up with the right response. "Interesting. What'd you do all day?" he asked, trying to change the subject. Discussing his nightmare didn't sound like a good idea to him.

Miss Neena's glassy eyes sparkled, as if she'd been waiting for him to ask that very question all her life.

"I spent the day with the gals from North Street," she began. "You know, the ones you met on Tuesday?" Leo took another swig from his mug, vaguely remembering a bunch of old ladies pinching his cheeks and crooning about how tall he was getting (even though they did not know him at all). Leo shivered at the thought. He nodded.

"Well," Neena continued on, "We spent a day in town. We went to the craft store on Crofton, and hit Burger King on the way back." Miss Neena rambled on. Leo continued to drink his coffee, not really listening to what she was saying.

Leo was thinking of Piper and Charlotte. He wondered how they were doing. Leo didn't usually get to talk to a lot of girls, so he considered it a step up on the social scale. He didn't see Charlotte most of yesterday, so he figured he'd see her today in The Great and Powerful Oz's class, and maybe catch her at lunch. Leo stared straight ahead, his thoughts racing as Miss Neena babbled on about how her day had gone.

"- brunch today," Leo heard Miss Neena croon when he had tuned back in. He had no clue what she was talking about.

"They invited you, too, but you have school…" Miss Neena suddenly stopped, her eyes widening. Leo blinked, confused.

"Oh Lord," she said suddenly, interrupting Leo's thoughts. "I'm late!" She quickly sprang to her feet. Leo's eyes widened in surprised.

"I got to go!" cried Miss Neena as she sprang out of her chair. Leo hastily stood after her.

"What?" asked Leo in confusion. "What's going – "

"The brunch! She said as she disappeared into the living room, walking much faster than the average old lady.

"I'm going to be late!" Leo heard Miss Neena cry in alarm from the other room. She came back wearing a jacket and a scarf, and had Leo's backpack and a hat in hand. She thrust his bag at him, and Leo grunted.

"Here, I packed your lunch" she muttered as she tossed Leo the backpack. Miss Neena hastily zipped up her jacket. She pulled her blonde, curly wig of hair into a bun before pulling on her green hat, and it didn't fit right, so she kind of looked like she wearing a melon on her head. She threw her scarf over her neck as she head towards the front door.

"Don't be late for school!" Leo heard her call as the door swung open. Then he heard it slam behind her.

Miss Neena was gone. Leo took another long sip from his coffee.

'Don't be late for school!' Miss Neena had told him.

Leo glanced at his watch, and then winced. Double crap. He only had ten minutes to get to school on time.

Leo quickly shouldered his bag and dashed out of the apartment down the hallway, hoping the teachers would cut him some slack and let him off on the second day.

* * *

Five minutes later, Leo approached the main entrance of Westfield Prep. He avoided the handful of students hanging around, and barely had time to observe the statue of the guy holding the world in all its splendor as he raced up the front steps, hurrying to get to class.

Leo threw open the front doors of the school and headed down the crowded hallway to his destination. He passed a bunch of unfamiliar faces as he made his way to his locker.

Leo didn't stop at his locker yesterday (he didn't see the need to). His locker was located in the freshman-sophomore hall, on the East side of the school. Miss Neena had gotten him his number and combination (#236, 35-13-8), but Leo had trouble getting it open. He tried it once, but the door was jammed. He tried again, but he had gotten the combination wrong. He had to do it a couple more times before the locker door finally swung open.

Leo grumbled complaints about his locker as he unzipped his backpack and dumped some stuff into his locker, including a bunch of notebooks and a few screwdrivers. Then he zipped it back up, closed the locker door, and shouldered it once again before heading back down the hall.

When Leo walked into The Great and Powerful Oz's classroom, all eyes were on him. Leo must've been at that locker longer than he thought.

Leo figured that he was interrupting something from the way the class was staring at him. Mr. Osborne, who wore a pair of jeans with a tweed jacket that made him look like a college professor, stopped what he was saying and spun around to face him. Leo was surprised to find that Mr. Oz didn't look irritated at all.

"Well, hello, Good morning. Please take a seat." Mr. Osborne said warmly.

The only seat left was one in the front row. Leo quickly walked over to the desk and sat down, trying to avoid the many stares.

Mr. Oz aptly continued on with what he was saying:

" - I have your agendas here. It's protocol for all teachers in the county to hand these out. I'm not saying you _have _to use them, but you can if you want to. I'll start passing them out." Mr. Osborne headed over to his desk.

Someone tapped Leo on his shoulder, and he spun around, surprised, to see Charlotte. She was wearing jeans, a pair of expensive-looking boots, and a furry vest. Her long, straight, blonde hair was pulled back in a ponytail.

She waved a little wave. Leo waved back.

Mr. Osborne began passing out the agendas. Leo quickly turned around, because it was only a matter of time until the teacher got to him.

Mr. Osborne reached Leo's desk and handed him his agenda.

The agendas were nothing special; They were little planners to use to organize your homework and stuff. Everyone's agendas were identical; on the cover were pictures of famous historical figures, like George Washington, Harriet Tubman, and other people like that. There were a couple of famous supers, too. On the inside was the name of their school, and as Leo flipped the pages of the book, smiling teenage faces stared up at him. Leo closed the agenda, scowling. He was glad that he didn't have to use it, because he wasn't planning too (yes, that was a pun).

For the rest of the class, everyone filled in their agendas with their personal information. Leo scribbled in his "Name", "Grade", "School", "Phone number", etc. in the agenda as he was told. Mr. Osborne kept droning on about The County and the wise guy who came up with the idea of agendas in the first place. Leo tuned him out, leaned on his fist, and got ready to take a long nap.

Right when he was about to nod off, the bell rang.

The sophomores all got up from their seats and began to head out. Leo stood, stretched, and then stuffed his planner in his bag and shouldered it. Then he joined the other students heading out of the classroom.

Leo had just gotten into the hallway when someone yanked his wrist and pulled him back.

Leo, startled and confused, spun around to see Charlotte.

"Um, hey," he said, confused as to why a pretty girl like Charlotte was pulling him aside. "What's going on?"

Charlotte took her backpack off of her shoulders and held it in her hands. She began to unzip the front.

"Give me a sec," she muttered. With her free hand, Charlotte pulled Leo aside by the water fountain. Leo stood by, wondering why she had pulled him aside in the first place.

Leo's ADHD got the best of him, and he began to watch as the students of Westfield busily made their way down the hallway. He caught a glance of Piper, and she saw him, too. She smiled at him, and Leo started to wave in return when Jason came out of nowhere and started talking to her. When Piper looked away, Leo deflated a little bit; Geez, Jason was everywhere. Leo lost interest and turned back to Charlotte.

She was reaching in her backpack for something. When she pulled her hand out, she was holding an envelope. Charlotte held it out to him.

"I'm throwing a party tomorrow night," she said, excitement in her eyes. Leo looked up at Charlotte, surprised, and hesitantly took the envelope from her hand, beginning to examine the invitation. It had a big, pink satin bow tied around it, and had the words "For Leo," on the back in Charlotte's big handwriting. Charlotte watched him with eager eyes as he looked it over.

Leo had never been invited to a party before. Moving around from foster home to foster home kind of eliminated the whole "party" thing. Leo wasn't quite sure if he would fit in at the party or not.

"I think it'd be really awesome if you came…" Charlotte trailed off.

Leo didn't know what else to do, so he just opened the envelope.

Inside was a white card with the words "Your Invited!" printed in big, pink letters. He opened the card, but the rest was in cursive, so he couldn't really make it out.

"Um…" Leo started to say, and Charlotte caught his drift.

She smacked her forehead.

"Fail. I forgot that you're dyslexic." Charlotte plucked the card from his hands and began to read aloud.

"It says: 'You're invited to Charlotte May Bruce's party on August 24, at 10893 Greenhouse Way. The party will begin at 8 p.m. and end at 11 p.m." Charlotte finished. She looked up at him with her sparkling, blue eyes.

"So…you coming?" she asked hopefully, rocking back and forth on her heels.

Leo rubbed the back of his neck nervously.

Leo Valdez was _not _a party person (well, he was, but sitting in a room full of people he didn't know? Not his kind of party.). Why was Charlotte asking him, anyway?

"I don't know…" he said uneasily as he continued to rub the back of his neck.

"Please?"

"Well…"

"Oh, _come on. _Everyone who's anyone's going. You _have _to come," Charlotte looked up at him with pleading eyes.

Leo looked at her skeptically, and Charlotte rolled her eyes again, huffing this time.

"Do you seriously want to be 'that guy' who didn't go to 'the party of the century'?" she asked. Charlotte had a point, Leo thought. Even though Leo didn't give a hoot when it came to popularity, he didn't want to feel left out.

He especially hated those next-day conversations, where everyone would talk about the party and nothing else. Leo didn't want to be "that guy" who had no idea what they were talking about.

Leo caved in.

_"Fine," _he told Charlotte in defeat. "When is it again?"

"Tomorrow night," she said happily. Charlotte's luminous, crystal-blue eyes were shining with excitement. "Be there at seven!" She was about to say something else when the bell rang. Charlotte eyes went wide, and she grabbed Leo's wrist and glanced at his watch.

"Oh, gosh, I got to go. I'm late for Biology. Bye!" Then Leo watched as she darted down the hallway, and Charlotte May Bruce disappeared into the crowd.

"Well," Leo muttered under his breath as he slipped the invitation into his back pocket. "That was fun."

Leo glanced at his watch. He didn't have much time to get to class, so he quickly pulled out his schedule from his backpack and checked to see what his next class was. Lucky for him, it was Math, which Leo could tolerate. He ran down the crowded hallway.

* * *

Leo made it to Math class with five minutes to spare. It was easy. Every problem on the page seemed to solve itself in Leo's head. He was barely making an effort.

Next was Art class. All Leo had to do was show the teacher some of his designs and he got an A plus.

The rest of the morning went by in a breeze. He had History right after art, and then it was lunchtime.

Leo didn't really have a great time at lunch yesterday (there were no more seats left, so he just got his lunch and went off exploring the school), so when he walked into the cafeteria, he was determined to find Piper. He hadn't seen her since earlier that morning.

The cafeteria at Westfield Prep was nothing special: just a big room full of round tables, teenagers, and a couple of vending machines. The room was practically buzzing with conversation. There was a long line leading into the school kitchen (that's where people got their school lunches from). Leo watched as students pulled chairs from vacant tables up to other tables to sit by their friends. There were only a few chairs left, so Leo dodged a bunch of students and hurried over to an empty table with a fair amount of chairs. He quickly sat down.

As Leo got settled down at his table, he noticed Charlotte walking around the cafeteria with a bunch of invitations in hand. It looked like she was inviting everybody, because she handed one to every person she passed. Leo noticed a couple of girls with invites chatting at the table next to him. He picked up on their conversation:

"OMG, I can't wait till Charlotte's party!" said one girl.

"Omigosh, me either!" chirped another girl excitedly. "I heard that Dylan's going! I'm _so_ asking him to dance!"

The two girls squealed excitedly, which is when Leo tuned out. He unzipped the front of his backpack and looked inside for the lunch Miss Neena had said she had packed for him.

He pulled out a brown paper bag, and inside was a PB&J sandwich, a brownie in a Ziploc bag, a Caprisun, and a bag of chips. Leo opened the bag of Salt and Vinegar and watched the many teenagers go about their business.

"Hey," said a familiar voice behind Leo, pulling him out of his thoughts. Leo turned around to see Piper holding a tray.

"Can I sit here?" she asked. Leo gulped down the chips in his mouth and nodded.

"Sure, not like anyone else was going to."

Piper rolled her eyes and sat down at the vacant seat next to him. She set her tray on the table.

Piper put down her bag and got settled down.

"So," she began as she ripped open a packet of mayonnaise and poured it on her cafeteria burger, "How was your official first day at Westfield Prep?" she asked, going for her pack of ketchup. "I didn't get to ask you yesterday afterschool."

Piper dressed like any other normal teenage girl, which was odd considering how wealthy she was. She wore a dark, long-sleeved tee and under a blue ski jacket, and a pair of washed out jeans with leather boots. She wore her long, brown hair all out today.

Leo chewed on a bit of his sandwich before answering her question. Piper took a large bite out of her burger.

"It was surprisingly okay," Leo mused as Piper chewed on her burger. "It didn't go half as badly as I thought it would. I didn't get jumped or anything, isn't that amazing?" Leo said in mock disbelief. Piper let out a little laugh as she continued to chow down on her burger.

"How was yours?" Leo asked in return.

Piper swallowed. She was about to answer him when someone called over to them.

"Hey!" Leo and Piper looked up.

It was Jason.

Jason came over to their table holding a tray, all smiles. He paused at the chair next to Piper, and looked at Leo.

"Can I sit here?" he asked. Leo shrugged. He didn't see the harm in letting Jason sit at their table.

"Sure. Make yourself comfortable." He told Jason. Jason rested his tray down on the table and sat down.

Jason settled down, and the next few minutes were kind of awkward. Leo watched kids make their way around the room, and tried to avoid conversation by shoving food down his throat. Apparently, Piper was trying the same approach, because she took another huge bite from her burger. Jason took the bun off of his and started squirting on mustard.

Jason kicked off the conversation: "So, Leo, did you get an invite to Charlotte's party?"

There was something in Jason's tone that Leo couldn't place. Leo noticed Jason eyeing him suspiciously from across the table.

Leo took a sip from his Caprisun before answering, "I did, actually. She gave me one this morning."

Just to show off, Leo slid it out from his back pocket and held it up for the two of them to see. Jason took a bite of his burger, and Piper just watched the interaction from the sidelines. Leo raised an eyebrow.

"Did _you _get an invite, Jason?" asked Leo with a cocky grin. Jason returned the gesture, pulling out his invitation.

"Yup," he said, popping the "p". Jason held it out for them to see, but then regarded his invite with distaste. He tossed the invitation onto the table.

"I'm not going." said Jason with a dark look. Piper nearly choked on her burger.

"What? Why aren't you going?" she asked with what seemed to be alarm. Leo saw that as his turn to watch them interact. He ate more chips and observed the two with great interest.

"Don't you know how many mo – " Piper choked a little on her sandwich, " – people are going to be there? You _have _to go!" Piper was practically pleading with him now. Jason looked down in his lap, playing with his thumbs.

"I promised Reyna that I'd go to the movies with her and the guys," said Jason quietly. Leo had no idea who Reyna was, but he still listened anyway.

"Sorry."

Leo watched as Piper sunk back in her chair, upset. When the three of them got quiet, Leo heard the buzz of the many conversations going on in the background, but it wasn't silent for long.

Apparently, someone else wanted to join the party.

"Piper! Jason!" someone called from across the cafeteria. Jason and Piper turned to look at someone. Leo turned, too, but he didn't know who they were looking at until this girl came over to their table. Leo sunk down in his chair, this day getting more and more awkward.

"Hey, Annabeth!" said Piper happily as the girl pulled a chair up to their table. Annabeth didn't have a tray like the other two, just a little cup of French fries. She sat down next to Jason and eyed Leo suspiciously, like, _Who's he?_

Piper noticed Annabeth's gaze. "This is Leo," she told Annabeth. Leo sized her up as Annabeth did the same, "He's new here, a friend of mine," she said. Annabeth regarded Leo with startling gray eyes.

She smiled at him, but the grin didn't reach her stormy eyes. "Nice to meet you, Leo. I'm Annabeth Chase."

Leo gave her a little salute and a smile, her gaze making him feel uncomfortable.

Annabeth Chase was the kind of girl that struck Leo as intimidating. She had long, curly blonde hair to go with those gray eyes of hers. She didn't wear anything interesting, just a gray cardigan and a pair of cargo pants and sneakers, and had a messenger bag strapped around her torso.

Piper went on to tell Leo that Annabeth was a junior at Westfield Prep. She explained to him about how she was "super smart" and how she got straight A's and honor awards and all that stuff. Leo didn't really listen to the rest. The only thing he paid full attention to was Annabeth's endless staring. She wouldn't take her eyes off of him. Usually, a girl staring at you was counted as a good thing, but this was downright _weird. _

Leo was wondering how long she could keep it up without blinking before he noticed that the three of them were looking at him expectantly.

"Huh?" he asked. He didn't quite catch the question.

Annabeth looked at him, her face clear of emotion. "I asked if you were going to the party tomorrow," Annabeth paused to take a sip of her drink. "Are you?"

"_Jason's_ not going," Piper announced. Annabeth's gaze shifted from Leo to Jason.

"What? Why aren't you going?" she asked in confusion.

"It's _Reyna,_" Jason complained. She wants me to go see a movie with her and her friends. I _told _her I had plans, but – " Jason sighed overdramatically. "I can't let her down. Not like _last _time."

Jason, Piper, and Annabeth all shivered, probably thinking about "last time". Leo watched the three with interest. Frankly, he didn't want to know.

Leo leaned back in his chair. "I'm going." He said to answer Annabeth's question.

"Charlotte convinced me to. Did you get an invite?"

Annabeth opened her messenger bag and slipped out an invitation.

"Yeah," she replied as she held it up for him to see. "I'm going. I hope Charlotte doesn't mind a few more people, cause I plan on bringing some." Annabeth's eye's glazed over and seemed to fix on the wall behind him. She dreamily stared into space.

"I hope she won't mind Percy coming…" Leo heard Annabeth mutter as Piper rolled her eyes. Then, to Leo's confusion, Piper reached over and plucked a French fry out of Annabeth's cup. Annabeth continued to stare into space, unfazed.

Piper stuffed the fry into her mouth before leaning over to Leo and whispering, "Percy is Annabeth's boyfriend. He goes to Goode, on the Upper East Side. Say his name, and she'll go into daydream-mode," Piper jerked her thumb at Annabeth, who still appeared to be in La-la-land. Leo raised an eyebrow.

"Your friends are weird," he whispered back, regarding Annabeth and Jason with wary eyes.

"Looks like you guys have something in common, then." Piper said smoothly. "You guys should get along swimmingly." Leo cracked a smile.

The bell rang, and everyone in the cafeteria quickly got to their feet. Leo stood, pushing his chair in as the students of Westfield pushed their way past him to the exit.

Leo pulled out his schedule. His next class was P.E.

"Aw, man," Leo groaned in protest. "Seriously?"

Annabeth stood and grabbed her nearly empty cup of fries. She walked over to Leo and peered over his shoulder at his schedule.

"You'll have to hurry," she told him, popping a fry into her mouth. Leo turned to look at her. "The gym teacher can be a pain sometimes. She doesn't tolerate tardiness," Annabeth said with a small smirk as she pushed passed Leo and made her way out of the cafeteria.

"Yeah, man," said Jason, a smile tugging at the corners of his mouth. "You should get going. I heard she's extra mean this year." He sounded like he was happy to say it.

Piper patted Leo sympathetically. "Good luck," she said before she joined her two friends and headed out.

Leo shook his head as the three of them walked out of the cafeteria, talking and laughing and smiling. They _were _weird, but in a good way. As Leo headed off to gym class, he decided that he would have to look for them tomorrow.

* * *

Gym was horrible. He got there two minutes late, and the teacher made him drop and do fifty. Leo's arms were going to be sore for a week.

The rest of the day went by. Leo caught Charlotte right before school ended, and they walked out together. Then they went their separate ways, and Leo headed for home.

* * *

Leo opened the door to the apartment.

"I'm home!" he yelled into the house, and, unlike yesterday, Adam poked his head out from the living room doorway.

"Hey," said Adam. Leo dropped his backpack in its spot by the front door and headed over to where Adam was.

"How was school?" asked Adam as Leo made his way past him into the living room. Leo plopped himself down on the couch, which made a loud, rubbery sound. Adam walked over and sat down on the armchair to his right.

Leo grabbed the remote from the floor and clicked on the TV.

It was the news. Some guy had robbed a bank. Leo lost interest and turned to Adam.

"I got invited to a party," said Leo matter-of-factly. He pulled the now crumpled invitation out of his pocket and tossed it to Adam so he could see.

"It's from this girl named Charlotte I met yesterday. She's nice. She smells like apples," said Leo as he turned up the volume on the television. Adam's eyebrows shot up.

"I'm impressed," said Adam. "Not bad for your second day."

Leo snorted and turned his head back to Adam.

"How'd your interview go?" Leo asked. A shadow passed over Adam's face, and he didn't look so happy. Leo didn't need an answer. He turned back to the TV, where the news went to commercial break.

"You got lost, didn't you?" said Leo after a while with a smirk on his face. Adam grumbled something under his breath and left the room in a hurry.

Leo let out a little laugh before changing the channel to see what else was on. He heard the front door open and from the hallway. Then it slammed shut. Miss Neena wandered into the living shortly after.

"Well," she said, dropping her bag on the armchair to Leo's left. She stuffed her keys into her bag and looked up at Leo. Then she let out a loud, long, un-lady-like burp.

"I give you a ten," said Leo as he surfed the channels.

"'Scuse me," she said with that Southern accent of hers. Then her hand went down to her stomach.

"Good Lord," she said, exasperated. "That was the longest brunch I've ever been to. I never want to eat that much food ever again." She dropped down on the couch next to him.

Leo turned back to the news. The commercial break was over, and footage of downtown was displayed on the screen. According to the reporter, there had been a break-in at some jewelry store, and there had been a fight. There was no major wreckage like last time, but Leo could see broken glass and rubble lying on the street. Leo listened in to what the reporter was saying:

" – fellow store owner Greta Frayer has some words to say on the incident."

The screen flashed to the face of a scared looking African-American woman.

"The things just swooped down from the sky and blasted the front window," said the witness with wide eyes. "They were huge with black, inky skin and pointed teeth. I thought the store owner was dead for sure, but before the monsters could leave, Team Alpha appeared on the scene," the woman took a breath before continuing on.

"They had a standoff down by the end of the avenue, right where that huge pile of rubble is," she said, motioning to somewhere behind her. The camera zoomed in to where a ton of debris sat on the concrete. Yellow police tape roped off the area.

"Hydro took down two of them over there." She pointed to another spot. "Diamond and Morphman got five over there," she said. "Then Mage and Aero took on four. Masteria, their leader led the whole thing, and they defeated them all. But then the weirdest thing happened, and the ground opened up, and at least twenty more came up out of the ground – "

Leo eagerly leaned in to hear what she had to say next, but the news reporter cut her off.

"News team 5 caught Team Alpha leader Masteria right before she left the scene."

The scene changed to the face of Masteria.

The leader of Team Alpha stood tall, proud and composed. She wore a gray spandex suit that was decorated with intricate designs, and a mask that hid everything but her eyes, probably to hide her true identity (supers did that sometimes; not everyone appreciated their powers). Leo listened in to hear what she had to say.

"My team and I managed to drive off the Lamiae, but they won't be gone for long." She said in a regal tone, addressing one of the many reporters on the scene. Her voice sounded strangely familiar, but Leo couldn't place a name. He leaned forward and listened on.

"It's best if civilians stay away from the downtown area until all of this get cleaned up," Masteria told authorities. "We'll find out who's behind this right away, and will try to cover all of the damage we caused during the battle."

Right before the camera went back to the reporter, Masteria looked straight up at the camera.

Leo squinted at the screen for moment, and then took in a quick, sharp breath and pressed the "pause" button on the remote. The image froze, and the remote fell from his hands. Leo gaped at the television.

He felt a hand on his shoulder.

"Leo?" he heard Miss Neena ask, but her voice was muffled, like she was speaking from far, far away. Leo brushed her hand away, his eyes not leaving the screen.

Masteria's eyes…they were gray. Stormy, intelligent gray. Leo didn't realize it at first, but he knew know. He _knew _that voice was familiar.

He knew Masteria, and Masteria knew him.

Masteria was Annabeth Chase.

* * *

**DUN, DUN, DUN! Yay! It's finally done! This is the longest thing I've ever written: It's twelve pages and 6,121 words long. I assume the chapters will get longer and longer, assuming that I'll finish this with my goal of ten chapters. Well, I hope you guys liked this as much as I did! :)**

**Review and tell me what you think, por favor! It'd make my day! :)))**

**Thanks for reading! :D**


	5. Chapter 4

**Here's the chapter I promised! :D**

**I'm really sorry for my delay. :( I just started at a new school, so everything is really hectic right now. Hope you guys understand. :) **

**I just wanted to say that ****_all_**** of your reviews were TOTALLY AWESOME! I love you guys! You're the best readers a gal could hope for. This chapter goes out to all of you. Thanks so much for the support; I can't wait to read more! :D**

**To guest reviewer, "Gurl": Parts, huh? That's an idea. I actually thought about it before, but then I realized that by the end, I'd have, like, a hundred parts. I might just do that, though. Thanks for the input! :)**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Percy Jackson and the Olympians, or the songs: "Little Things" by One Direction, "Just Dance" by Lady Gaga and "I Won't Give Up" by Jason Mraz.**

CHAPTER 4

…

The ordinary man is involved in action, the hero acts. An immense difference.

- Henry Miller

…

"I know who Masteria is," said Leo in excitement. He had been thinking about Annabeth Chase's alter ego all morning; the news was way too good to contain.

Leo watched as Piper slammed her locker closed and stood up straight, shouldering her bag. As Piper stuffed her textbooks into her backpack, he glanced down the hallway at the many students bustling about.

Most students were at their lockers, chatting and getting all the items they'd need for the day, but Leo could hear what all the buzz was about. Charlotte's party was tonight. Everyone was excited, including Leo. He couldn't wait.

After a long while of debating with himself, Leo had decided to tell Piper about Annabeth's secret identity. Piper _was_ Annabeth's friend, after all. Leo thought that if Piper didn't know about it already, she deserved to know now. He waited impatiently for her to hurry up and close her bag, his fingers drumming against his leg.

Piper finally zipped up her backpack and looked up at Leo with skeptical eyes, her brown hair falling over her shoulders. She raised an eyebrow at him.

"The superhero?" she asked, addressing his question. Her tone was full of doubt.

"Yeah," said Leo as he nodded, his excitement once again creeping into his voice. He knew that he sounded like a lunatic, but he had to get his point across. It wasn't everyday you found out the secret identity of a superhero.

Leo observed as Piper's hand fumbled with the zipper on her jacket. Today, Piper was wearing a pair of cargo pants, a camouflage tee, and an old pair of sneakers. Her hair was out, done with thin braids on the side. Leo thought she had an odd sense of style.

Then, to his confusion, Piper rolled her eyes and started walking down the hallway.

Leo frowned, offended at Piper's sudden rudeness. Geez. What was _her _problem?

He took a baffled moment to watch his friend walk down the corridor. Then, exasperated, Leo quickly followed her.

"I was watching the news yesterday and I saw her eyes," he told Piper, trying to keep up with her. Piper scoffed and Leo could've sworn she started walking faster. The bell was going to ring any minute, so the two of them had to get to class, but Leo wasn't going anywhere. Not until Piper believed him.

"Her eyes were gray, Piper. _Gray. _How many people do you know have gray eyes?"

To Leo's annoyance, Piper sighed and kept walking down the hallway, dodging the many students of Westfield Prep heading to their respective classes. Leo didn't get it. Why was she acting like this?

Fed up, Leo grabbed Piper's shoulder and forced her to a halt.

"Why won't you just listen?" Leo voiced his thoughts in frustration. He didn't understand. Why was she being so difficult?

Piper sighed once again. Leo waited for her to say something next as the many scholars made their ways to class around them. A kid took a swig from the water fountain to their right. Leo stood behind Piper, arms crossed in defiance, waiting for an answer.

Piper ran a hand through her choppy hair before slowly turning around to face him.

Leo, glad he had her attention, opened his mouth to say something, but she cut him off.

"Leo," Piper began, tucking a lock of her dark hair behind her ear. "I know that you think that Masteria is Annabeth, but I have other things to worry about right now. The identity of some superhero is the least of my problems. But let me tell you something." Leo internally groaned. He felt an inspirational quote coming on.

"There are supers, and then there are superheroes. Supers are people who have powers." Piper told him, holding up a finger to emphasize her point. "Super_heroes_ are people who use their powers for the greater good, to help others, and Annabeth is neither of those. She would've told me if she was. You're not the first person to ask about it."

As Piper spoke, Leo's heart sank. This was just _great_. Piper didn't believe him. Leo ran a hand through his hair, feeling stupid for even telling her in the first place.

Right when Piper finished, the bell rang. The two of them stood around in an awkward silence as the other students hurried off in different directions.

"We should get to class." Piper said with a sense of finality. Then she had the nerve to give Leo an apologetic look, as if to say _What can you do? _

Piper turned around and sashayed down the hallway, and disappeared into the throng.

Leo grunted before turning around to head down the opposite end of the hall. His parade had just gotten rained on, but he wasn't going to give up just yet. He knew that Annabeth was Masteria, no matter what Piper thought. He'd ask Annabeth, and today he'd have the perfect opportunity to do just that.

* * *

"So…you excited about the party tonight?" Leo asked Charlotte before stuffing another one of her Double Stuf Oreos into his mouth.

It was lunchtime, and Leo decided to eat lunch outside with Charlotte today. Most of the students were pent up indoors where it was warmer, but Charlotte insisted they eat outside. She happened to like it much better in the cold. Leo didn't mind the cold, either. It didn't really have an effect on him.

Charlotte threw the top of her Oreo off into the bushes to her right and licked the cream off of the inside before answering, "Yeah."

She wore her pin-straight, blonde hair in a bun today, tucked under a hat. Charlotte wore another expensive-looking outfit today: an olive-green sweater, gray skinny jeans, and a pair of brown Uggs completed her outfit. Leo wondered where the funding for her fashion sense came from. Hey, maybe her dad was a movie star too…?

Leo had another question.

"Why are you throwing a party so early in the year?" he asked. "Don't most kids, like, have them at the end or something?"

Charlotte focused her clear blue eyes on him.

"It's my popularity pitch," she told him, and Leo was confused. His face must've shown it, because Charlotte sighed and pulled out another Oreo.

"If my party tonight turns out as awesome as I hope it will, it'll get me a spot in the popularity crowd," she explained, turning the Oreo over in her hands. "I mean, I've always been popular, but am I _popular _popular?" asked Charlotte.

Leo gave her a blank face, and she sighed again.

"No," said Charlotte, taking the top off the cookie and throwing it to the bushes once again. "No, I'm not. I don't want to be 'just another girl', you know?"

Leo didn't know, but he nodded anyway.

Charlotte continued on.

"I don't want to be that weird, awkward, kid with the little circle of friends."

Leo raised an eyebrow.

"No offense," said Charlotte quickly.

"None taken," said Leo nonchalantly as he took another Oreo. Leo shoved it into his mouth, and leaned back because he knew he'd be there for a while. Some girls tended to talk a lot, and Leo had a feeling that Charlotte was one of them. "Continue on."

"I want to be remembered as that chick who threw the awesome parties every year," she said, her eyes lighting with excitement. "The one who threw the big, blowout parties where everyone went home with a hangover. I don't want to be known as just another ordinary teenager. I want to be known. Remembered. A _somebody."_

That sounded awfully cliché. Leo always thought that being known as a party-er was a bad thing, but he didn't say it aloud. Charlotte was kind of in the moment. He didn't feel like ruining it.

As they ate, Charlotte stared straight ahead at some invisible point in the school parking lot. Leo had no idea what she was staring at, and tried to follow her gaze.

The two of them didn't have a very nice view from the front steps, if the school parking lot counted as one. All they saw were teacher's cars and a handful of older students who were fooling around by the statue in front of the building. The occasional car passed by on the main road in front of the school, but Leo didn't see anything interesting to stare at. Was Charlotte looking at the statue or something?

Leo half expected her to say some philosophical mumbo-jumbo, but she just sighed for the third time and said, "I don't know what to wear."

He rolled his eyes, losing interest. It was just girl stuff, nothing important. Leo popped another Oreo in his mouth, his mind elsewhere, mostly on what Charlotte had said.

_"I don't want to be branded as just another ordinary teen." _Charlotte's voice said in Leo's mind. _"I want to be known. Remembered. A somebody."_

* * *

"Leo!" called the voice of Miss Neena from downstairs.

_"What?!" _Leo screamed at the top of his lungs. He was back at the apartment, trying to fix his stupid hair for Charlotte's stupid party. He grumpily threw down the brush he had been trying to use on the dresser, and picked up a comb instead.

This was impossible. He had been trying to brush his hair, to no avail. Leo tried to drag the comb through his hair, too, but a bunch of the teeth broke off. Leo swore in Spanish as he threw away the comb. He would just have to give up and move on to his next imperfection.

School today was drab. He didn't see Piper for the rest of the day (no surprise there), but he did catch a glance of Jason, and that was pretty much it. He didn't see Annabeth either. Leo was upset that he didn't see her, because he wanted to confront her about her you-know-what, but no worries. He'd have plenty of time to do that at the party tonight, assuming she would be there. Leo hoped she would.

"Leo, what're you doing?" he heard Miss Neena ask. Leo scowled before tossing a shirt he had been debating to wear on his bed, and hurried out of his bedroom into the hallway. He ran down the hall past a creepy portrait of some Civil War hero and stopped at the top of the staircase, almost tripping on the rug.

"I'm getting ready for a party!" he yelled in response. Miss Neena shuffled from wherever she had been to the bottom of the stairs, and peered up at Leo through a pair of round-rimmed glasses. She leaned on the stair railing and pulled the bright pink shawl she was wearing closer around her, undoubtedly trying to beat the cold.

Leo could see the sparkle in her eyes all the way from upstairs.

"What party?" she asked, quieter and more curious this time. Leo didn't really have time to explain. He had to hurry up and get ready. Leo ran a hand through his unmanageable hair and sighed in annoyance.

"I got invited to a party at this girl's house, okay?" he told her, irritated. Leo rolled his own eyes as Miss Neena's went wide, and he decided that that was a good time to go back to his room.

"A _girl?_" he heard Miss Neena croon from the foot of the stairs right before he slammed his bedroom door shut. Leo scowled once again and headed back over to his dresser. He had better things to do than talk with the members of his foster family.

To be totally honest, Leo was still upset over Piper's not believing him (if you hadn't noticed already). She was the only person he trusted to tell, and she didn't _freaking believe him._ Well, of course, Leo had no proof, and he was pretty sure that Annabeth wasn't the only person in the world with gray eyes, but _still._ Leo _knew _it was her. It _had _to be. It would kind of suck if it wasn't.

Leo buttoned up the white collarless shirt he had picked out from the pile of clothes Miss Neena had gotten him over the week. Then he pulled out a pair of pinstripe pants, and pulled them on. He finished the outfit with some black converse Miss Neena had bought and a loose-fitting tie (it took him a while to put on the tie; it's much harder than it looks). After Leo was done, he walked over to the mirror in on the back of his bedroom door.

Oooh. Leo looked good, like one of those movie stars he had seen in a magazine. He was impressed; Miss Neena surprisingly knew how to shop. Hopefully, the other partygoers would think Leo looked presentable, too.

Leo slid down the staircase railing into the living room (he had always wanted to do that). Adam was vegging out in front of the TV eating his dinner of pizza and chips. The lights in the kitchen were on, so Leo assumed that Miss Neena was in there cooking something. The smell of onions that wafted out of the kitchen confirmed it.

Adam had kicked back in his armchair, and was holding the remote at arm's length. Leo walked over to Adam. Leo watched as Adam turned a couple of channels before turning around to face him.

"Hey," Adam warbled out, his bag of chips falling off of his chest and onto the floor as he craned his neck to face Leo. He sounded like he had just woken up from a nap. Maybe watching soap opera's with Miss Neena had knocked him out, Leo thought.

Adam narrowed his eyes at Leo.

"What're you wearing?" he asked, more alert.

"Clothes," Leo replied. He felt like being annoying this particular evening. Adam didn't seem to mind his answer, because he just turned back around to face the TV. He changed another channel, and ended up on Hallmark. It was on commercial break, and scenes from Little House on the Prairie flashed by on the screen. Unquestionably bored, Adam turned off the TV, and turned to look at Leo once again.

"Have fun at your party," Adam told him before letting out a belch. "Don't get laid. Also avoid the punch."

Leo nodded curtly.

"Yessir. Any more useless information?"

"Nah," said Adam flatly. He picked up a slice of pizza from the box on the table and began to chew on the cheesy goodness. Was it just Leo, or did Adam look kind of plump nowadays?

Done with the conversation, Leo picked up the jacket he had left on the couch earlier before checking his watch. It was 7:12 p.m.

"I'm gone." He told Adam without looking up from his watch. Then, much louder this time: "I'm going to my party now!"

"Be back by eleven!" Leo heard Miss Neena reply from the kitchen. Leo rolled his eyes. He'd probably be back around twelve.

"Bye!" he said as he made his way to the main hallway. Then he shrugged on his jacket, opened the front door, and walked into the main hall.

As Leo walked down the stairs into the main lobby of the apartment building, he took the invitation out of his pocket, reading over the address. He adjusted his tie and winked at his reflection in the polished bronze elevator doors as he passed by.

Party, here comes Leo.

* * *

_Ding-dong._

Leo checked the invitation. '10893 Greenhouse Way.' He looked up at the address on the building before him once again, tugging on his tie. This was the place. Then why did no one seem to be home?

Leo observed the house once again. Charlotte's house was big. It was a two-story house, with a porch and a big front lawn and nice long driveway. It looked like any other normal American home Leo had ever seen, and a "Beware of Dog" sign hung on the fence that lined the backyard. He didn't see or hear any dog. He figured they kept the pet inside.

Leo adjusted his tie and rang the doorbell once again.

_Ding-dong._

Leo heard someone stir inside, which made him glance at his watch. It was 7:37, so the party hadn't really started yet, but he was getting annoyed. It was late, and getting dark, and also very cold. Charlotte should've been in there.

He was about to ring the bell a third time when the door swung open, and Charlotte's head poked out.

"Hey!" she chirped, obviously happy to see him. Before Leo could say anything, Charlotte grabbed his wrist and pulled him inside.

Leo began to take off his coat as Charlotte locked the front door behind him.

"Took you long enough," Leo muttered as he fumbled with the zipper of his army jacket.

Charlotte let out an apologetic laugh behind him as she came up behind him and helped him take off his jacket.

"Sorry about that. I was, um, getting ready. So, what's up?"

Leo was about to answer when he looked up, and his eyebrows shot up in surprise. He whistled, impressed.

Charlotte's house was awesome. There was a huge living room with fancy looking furniture and matching drapes, and big stone fireplace that sent a draft of cold air inside. The living room opened up to a kitchen, where they had shiny appliances and cool wall designs. There was one wall painted to look like a mural, and a clay statuette sat in every corner. A wacky looking chandelier that looked like it was made of glass shards hang in the center of the room, and a dance floor was laid out on the hardwood floor. The house looked like it belonged to Picasso.

Leo whistled.

"Cool house." He complimented. "You related to Da Vinci?" Charlotte smiled next to him.

"No, but thanks," she said. "My dad's an aspiring artist. Most of this stuff is his work."

Leo turned to look at Charlotte for the first time, and he noticed she was blushing.

Charlotte looked as nice as her house. She wore a short blue and white party dress that Leo noticed matched her eyes, a bleached jean jacket, and a pair of silver flats. Her hair was pulled back in a curly ponytail, and Leo could tell it took her a long time to curl her pin-straight hair. The thought that he wasn't the only one with hair trouble made him feel a little better.

"Nice outfit," Leo complimented. Charlotte blushed a deeper red, but Leo didn't feel like reading into it.

"Um, thanks," she mumbled, nervously pulling on her ponytail. Leo smiled in reply, and the conversation slipped into silence. The statues in the room seemed to stare straight at Leo, like they were waiting to see what he was going to do next.

After an uncomfortable minute or two, Charlotte spoke up.

"So…you want a tour or something?" she asked. Leo shrugged.

"Or something." He said in reply, giving Charlotte his signature smile. He really wanted to see the rest of the house. Charlotte took his wrist and led him off down a hallway to their right.

Leo followed Charlotte down the corridor. The hall was dimly lit. Doors lined each side, and Leo wondered where she was taking him until Charlotte turned a corner. The two of them emerged through a doorway into a brightly lit room.

"This is the dining room." She told him. The dining room was big, but not as big as the living room. A long table sat in the center of the room, and a fancy china cabinet stood against one wall. Lining two of the walls were snack tables, piled with chips and dip and cheese curls and crackers and every other snack Leo could think of. To Leo's delight, a chocolate fountain sat in one corner of the snack table. Yum. Leo licked his lips, and smiled to himself. This party was going to be awesome.

Charlotte grabbed Leo's wrist again and led him out of the room. They stumbled back into the hallway, and Charlotte took Leo down the hall and through another door. On the other side of the door was a staircase leading down into darkness.

"C'mon," said Charlotte with a smile as she tugged on Leo's sleeve. "We're going to the basement."

She flicked a switch, and some lights came on. Leo followed Charlotte down the steps.

They made it halfway down the staircase before Charlotte's phone rang.

She stopped, and Leo came to a halt behind her, almost running into her. Leo heard Charlotte mutter a curse under her breath as she pulled her phone out of a pocket in her jacket.

Charlotte had one of those newer phones that had just been released a few months ago. She swiped the screen with her thumb and read something. Curious, Leo peered over her shoulder.

"I got a text," Charlotte mumbled. Before he could see what it said, Charlotte turned the phone off.

"Some more guests are here," she told him as she slid her phone back into her pocket. "Go on ahead downstairs. Don't steal anything. My mom's a cop."

Leo gave Charlotte a salute as she pushed past him to make it back up the stairs.

"I'll try not to," he told her as he watched her disappear into the hallway above. Then Leo went downstairs.

When he walked into the basement, he whistled for the second time that night.

The basement was even cooler than upstairs. In one corner were the games. Air hockey, foosball, and Ping-Pong would keep Leo occupied for a while. In another corner, assorted video games were stacked together, and a huge 48" inch flat screen TV sat nearby. Leo saw a couple Wii controllers, too, and he couldn't help but smile. He'd have plenty of fun with that. The basement had a dance floor, and a DJ table was set up. There was another snack table down there, too, with a huge punch bowl on top in place of a chocolate fountain. Leo was about to grab a plate when he heard footsteps coming down the stairs. He turned around to see who it was.

Charlotte appeared at the bottom of the stairs, a trail of teenagers behind her.

"Make yourselves at home, guys." She told the many party guests as they ambled into the basement. Leo searched their faces for Piper and Annabeth, but they were nowhere to be found. They'd probably show up later.

Leo ditched the snack table and went to a couch in the back to sit down, securing a seat for himself. He'd look for the two of them later.

After a while, more and more guests poured in, and one of them took a spot at the DJ table, going through the tracks and doing test runs. The other students sat down in various places, chatting and talking and drinking the punch, which Leo figured hadn't been spiked yet. He quickly grabbed a cup and sat back down. Might as well get some punch while it was drinkable.

Music started to play. It was some song by P!nk, who Leo usually didn't listen to. Some kids decided to get up and dance. Others headed for the snack table, and some started to play video games. A couple of them played Ping-Pong. Leo stayed among the others who awkwardly sat in the corner, sipping his punch. He could hear footsteps upstairs, and more kids came down the staircase. All the chairs were taken now, and the room was getting kind of stuffy. That was when Leo decided to go upstairs.

Some more kids passed by Leo as he went up the stairs. Another song started playing below, and the music pounded in his ears. Leo felt kind of dizzy as he emerged at the top of the staircase, and was surprised at what he saw when he reached the end of the hall.

There were tons more kids upstairs, dancing and chilling and what not. As they danced around the room, Leo wondered when they had gotten there. He was going to look for Charlotte to see what she was doing when his head started swimming, and he ditched the search party to find a seat.

Leo looked around, and found an empty seat next to a couple that was passionately making out. He slid his hands in his pockets as he approached them.

"Um," he began as they played tonsil hockey. Leo could hear the slurping noises they made as they kissed, and he made a face. Times like this made Leo wish the PDA rule existed outside of school.

"Is anyone sitting here?" He asked, pointing to the empty spot next to them. Not surprisingly, they didn't answer. They just kept on sucking face. Leo rolled his eyes and proceeded to try and squeeze his way in next to them on the couch. Once he sat down, Leo dejectedly drank a little bit more of his punch. This party was not going as well as he thought it would.

"Leo!" someone called over the noise. Leo looked around to see who had spoken, and Charlotte appeared next to him.

"Hey!" she said, a huge grin on her face. Where had _she _been? Charlotte looked like she was having the time of her life, unlike Leo. He raised an eyebrow at his friend.

"Having fun?" he asked, eyeing her warily. Charlotte nodded enthusiastically, and Leo noticed that her hair was all messed up. He really didn't want to know what happened.

"I'm about to go play Spin the Bottle," she said excitedly, trying to talk over the noise. Her crystal blue eyes gleamed with a sense of ferocity. "Want to play?"

Leo choked a little on his punch. "What?"

"You want to play Spin the Bottle with us?" she asked again, more suggestive this time. Whoa, whoa, whoa, wait a minute. Was she…_flirting?_

Leo hoped that the music playing in the background drowned out the strangled noise he made in his throat.

"Uh…no thanks." He said, bringing his cup to his lips to avoid more conversation. Charlotte pouted and reached down towards him. Leo involuntarily flinched before she grabbed his hand.

"Come on," she said, genuinely upset. She gave him begging eyes to match her pout; her beach-blonde hair fell over her shoulders like a canopy. "Please?"

Just the way Charlotte was acting told Leo that someone had spiked the punch.

Right when he was about to answer, he caught a glimpse of a certain blonde-haired, gray-eyed girl move through the crowd at the opposite end of the room.

Leo pulled his hand back.

"I...have to talk to someone," he muttered to Charlotte, but he wasn't sure if she heard him or not over the music. Leo got up from the couch and left her and the turned-on couple behind.

He wandered onto the dance floor, where teens were dancing and grinding like crazy. Leo pushed his way through a group of girls and a couple of guys and made his way over to the snack table, which was the direction he had seen Annabeth head for. Leo found her and a raven-haired guy who looked around Annabeth's age laughing and eating chips by the dip. He approached them, glad that he had finally gotten the opportunity to do what he had wanted to do all day.

"Annabeth," he called over to her. Both Annabeth and the guy looked up. The dude, whose mouth was full of chips, looked at Annabeth with questioning eyes, and Annabeth opened her mouth to speak.

"Um, hi Leo," she said hesitantly. She shared a glance with the guy before looking back at him.

"Nice to see you here," she continued. "Leo, this is my boyfriend Percy, the one we were talking about in school the other day." She motioned to the guy standing next to her, who regarded Leo with penetrating eyes. Leo, feeling defensive for some reason, returned the gesture.

"Percy," Annabeth said, motioning to Leo. "This is Leo."

Percy swallowed his mouthful of chips before holding out a hand to Leo.

"Hey. Nice to meet you," he said, smiling. The smile did not reach his eyes, much like Annabeth's hadn't. Leo tentatively shook Percy's hand.

"Hey…" Leo greeted uneasily. Leo tried to hold in his wince. Percy had a strong grip.

Annabeth's boyfriend was more intimidating than her, which was saying something. Percy was tall, for starters, and very tan and muscular. He had jet-black hair that fell into his green eyes, and wore a gray shirt that matched Annabeth's eyes and a pair of dark jeans.

Leo let go of Percy's hand, cradling it in his own, and glanced over at Annabeth.

Annabeth was wearing a plain gray dress and some black ballet flats. Her curly blonde hair was all out tonight. The lights danced in Annabeth's tempestuous gray eyes, which brought Leo back to another question.

"I need to talk to you about something," Leo said uncomfortably. Annabeth shifted her weight from side to side, and Percy's gaze focused on the far wall. Some old song by Selena Gomez blared loudly in the background, and the two of them shared a glance once again. Leo wondered how they could have an entire conversation like that with no words at all.

"You guys go ahead," Percy said finally as he brought his cup to his lips. "I'll be right here."

Leo gave Percy a grateful smile before he and Annabeth headed over to another side of the room, dodging the many dancing teens. When they finally made it over to the other side, Leo turned to face her.

"So…" he began, not really sure how to start off the conversation. Annabeth pulled on a strand of her hair, avoiding Leo's gaze.

"I saw you on the news yesterday." Leo finished. Annabeth looked up at him with confused eyes, a scowl on her face.

"What do you mean you saw me on the news yesterday? I've never been on TV before in my life," she told him. She said it like the very idea of her on a TV screen was completely absurd.

Leo was done with this 'avoiding the issue' stuff. He was just going to blurt it out and get it over with.

"I know you're Masteria," Leo deadpanned. For a fraction of a second, Annabeth froze, and her hand flew to her side, but nothing was there. The moment passed, and she went right back to regular, normal old Annabeth. Her hand fell down by her side.

"What makes you think that?" she asked, defensively putting her other hand on her hip.

"Well…" Leo began, putting a hand under his chin. "Masteria has gray eyes. So do you. And she also has a gray suit. You seem to fond of that color, too," said Leo, motioning to her dress. Annabeth glanced down at her outfit, but just looked back up at him with dubious eyes.

"Any real proof?" she asked, eyebrow raised. Leo had nothing there. He shrugged, and Annabeth gave him a triumphant smile.

"Well, there's your proof. I'm not Masteria. Why would you think she was me, anyway, when there's an entire city out there full of gray-eyed girls who like the color gray?" she said, motioning to the front door.

Annabeth was probably right. New York City _was _the most populated city in the country. There were probably a lot of girls out there who fit Annabeth's description. But on the _other _hand…

"Okay, Annabeth," said Leo, holding up his hands in mock surrender. "I believe you. But this isn't over."

Annabeth smiled smugly, and Leo looked out into the crowd. Percy was still at the table, drinking his punch and watching them with wary eyes. A shiver went up Leo's spine.

"You should probably get back to your boyfriend," Leo told Annabeth. She glanced behind her in Percy's direction, and turned back around.

"Yeah…" she said, trailing off. She rubbed her arms, as if she was cold. The conversation slipped into an awkward silence, the music still blasting in the background.

"See you later, Leo." Annabeth finally said. She turned to go, but Leo caught her by the shoulder.

"Is Piper here?" he asked. He really wanted to know. Maybe talking to Piper would make this night feel better than it was, even if they had had a disagreement earlier.

Annabeth pursed her lips.

"Not yet…" she told Leo, to his dismay. "But she's on her way. She'll be here around ten."

Leo glanced at his watch. It was 8:56. He didn't think he could wait another hour.

"Thanks," Leo told her, disappointed. Annabeth gave him a half smile.

"Your welcome."

Then she turned around and disappeared into the crowd.

A few minutes later, she appeared next to her boyfriend, smiling and laughing and eating tortilla chips once again. Leo sighed and turned to go find somewhere else to be.

Leo decided to take the rest of the tour of Charlotte's house alone. He wandered through a great amount of rooms, stumbling upon couples making out and more teens chilling. In one room, they were having a punch-jugging contest. Leo wondered who would have the bigger hangover.

When Leo found his way back to the dining room, someone tapped him on his shoulder, and he spun around.

No one was there, which was weird. Leo spun back around, tugged on his tie again, and started making his way over to the snack table to inspect the chocolate fountain.

_Tap tap._

Leo spun around a second time, but didn't see or hear anything. The handful of teens drinking punch and chatting in the corner didn't seem to have noticed. Leo, now uncomfortable, decided to leave the dining room altogether.

A slow song started playing, and Leo made his way down the hallway back into the living room. When he got there, the lights were dim, and reflected off of the glass chandelier in the center of the ceiling, much like a disco ball. Couples danced along to the music, and Leo went to find a seat.

Leo sat down in a vacant chair and dolefully watched the pairs slow dance across the room. As the love-struck teenagers began their awkward swaying, Leo wondered why he even came. Annabeth claimed not to be Masteria. Piper wasn't here. Charlotte was high, and Leo was left alone to be a wallflower. He was feeling pretty left out right about now.

Out on the dance floor, a really pretty brunette was dancing with a nerd-y looking kid. Leo watched in amusement as the nerd kept tripping over her feet, much like Leo would've done himself. The girl, fed up with the boy's horrible dancing, looked straight in his eyes, and to Leo's shock, froze him on the spot. And when he means freeze, he means she _literally froze him. _The girl was a human freeze ray. Leo winced, feeling sorry for the poor guy. He didn't want to dance with _her._

Leo was tapping his foot to the beat of the song and mentally comparing the party to a typical Wilderness School dance when someone approached him from behind.

"Hey, Leo." Said a girl's voice. Leo turned around, surprised that someone had spoken to him at all.

It was Piper.

"Hey," said Leo, craning his neck to see her. Piper didn't look so happy. Her shoulders slumped, her face downcast, and Leo wondered why.

"Can I sit here?" she asked, pointing at his chair. Leo raised an eyebrow, not ready to give up his chair.

"They're no more seats," she said, rolling her eyes at him. Leo hesitantly scooted over, and Piper let out a little laugh. Then she took a seat next to him.

"Thanks," she muttered with a little smile, but then it disappeared. She went back to her gloomy self once again.

It was hard sharing a chair with Piper. Her hips took up most of the seat, and Leo kept falling off, but he didn't really mind. Half a seat was better than none at all.

Tonight, Ms. McLean was wearing a green party dress and a pair of mini Uggs. Her hair was pulled back in a single braid, and a sparkly silver purse hung at her side. She was dressed like she was ready to party, but to Leo, her expression said something more like, "Meh."

In the awkward silence that followed, Leo watched as Percy and Annabeth passed by on the dance floor. Percy was just as bad of a dancer as the nerdsicle was. He kept stepping on Annabeth's feet, but Annabeth didn't seem to mind. She just kept smiling and swaying along to the music.

Leo smiled before turning his attention back to Piper, who was unusually quiet. She sullenly looked down at her hands, which were in her lap. Her melancholy mood seemed to match the tone of the music.

She sighed, and Leo racked his brain to figure out why she was so miserable.

Oh yeah…Jason wasn't here.

"Miss Jason?" he asked over the music. Piper looked up from wringing her hands, her multi-colored eyes lacking the life they usually had.

"Kind of," she replied. She stuck a loose strand of brown hair behind her ear. "I'm not really a party person, that's all."

She didn't say anything after that, so Leo decided that it'd be best to leave it alone. He contented himself with listening to the words of the song that was playing.

_And I've just let these little things slip out of my mouth  
'Cause it's you,  
Oh, it's you,  
It's you they add up to_

Leo wasn't a really big fan of the song, but Piper seemed to be. Out of the corner of his eye, he noticed Piper swaying lightly next to him.

"I love this song," she said with a small smile. She quietly hummed it next to him, much happier now. Leo liked her better that way.

After a while, the song ended, and a more energetic song began to play. Everyone on the dance floor went from slow dancing to jumping up and down. Leo was going to sit this dance out. He was going to sit _every _dance out.

At the chorus, Leo felt Piper tug on his sleeve, and he turned to look at her. The lights seemed to dance in her kaleidoscope eyes.

"What?" he asked, concerned.

"You _have _to dance with me," she pleaded. "I _love _this song. Let's go!" she said, springing to her feet and taking Leo's hands in hers.

Whoa. Where had she gotten all that energy from? Leo wondered what had gotten into her. Did she drink the punch?

"C'mon, Leo!" she tried again, and Leo finally recognized the song. It was "Just Dance", by Lady Gaga. The universe was really screwing with him today, wasn't it?

Leo caved.

_"Okay," _he said, rolling his eyes and standing up. Piper smiled and dragged him over to where everyone else was.

Leo grumbled a few choice words under his breath as she pulled him along.

Leo danced as badly as he sang, which was saying something. Piper walked onto the dance floor, but he still grudgingly stood to the side, Piper still holding onto his arm with a steely grip. She yanked his arm, and the two of them ended up on the dance floor.

_Just dance. Gonna be okay.  
Da-doo-doo-doo  
Just dance. Spin that record babe.  
Da-doo-doo-doo_

Piper was jumping and laughing and giggling and whatnot, generally having a good time, but Leo, on the other hand, kept getting pushed and knocked around by other dancers. This was getting really annoying; his chair had probably been taken by now. What time was it, anyway? Leo couldn't even move his arm to check. He was too busy being wedged between two dancers.

Leo grumbled some not-so-nice words under his breath. Worst. Dance. _Ever._

After a while of being pushed around and trampled on, Leo noticed that Piper had stopped dancing.

"What's wrong?" she asked, her eyes full of concern. She'd finally noticed that he was having a not-so-fun time. Leo felt weird with Piper staring at him like that. He avoided her gaze, the other dancers still bumping into him.

"I think I've had enough dancing for one night, don't you?" he said, habitually tugging on his tie. For some reason, he was sweating, and it seemed really hot and stuffy. Leo wasn't one to sweat.

Piper pursed her lips.

"Okay." She said finally with a little sigh. She sounded loud compared to the music. "Let's go sit down."

The two of them pushed their way out of the crowd and over to the snack table.

To Leo's luck, someone was there to meet them.

"Hey guys!" Charlotte called over, holding a plate of chocolate covered fruit in one hand. In the other, she held a bottle of water. She seemed more sober than she had been an hour ago, and Leo was relieved.

When Leo and Piper reached her, Charlotte beamed at them. "Enjoying the party?"

Leo and Piper shared a glance.

"Um…sure." Said Leo, speaking for the both of them. Charlotte smiled in satisfaction before pulling out her phone. She tapped the screen a couple times before making a disapproving face at the screen.

"One of the chocolate fountains is malfunctioning." She told them, her tone annoyed. "I should probably check that out. But, before I do…" Leo was surprised when Charlotte grabbed his hand in hers. "Let's dance."

Leo probably blushed. Charlotte glanced at Piper, as if she just noticed that she was there.

Charlotte was about to say something when Piper cut her off.

"Uh…I think I'll go look for my friends now," said Piper as she smiled sheepishly, jerking a thumb back at the dance floor. Leo watched her go. She strolled back over to the dance floor, and Leo debated whether or not to grab her arm and ask her to stay. He really didn't want to be left alone with Charlotte.

Piper disappeared into the crowd. Then Charlotte beamed at Leo and started pulling him over to the dance floor.

Leo had never really danced before (well, except for one time, in the sanctity of his room, but that was different). The fact that this dance would be in front of tons of people made Leo feel uneasy.

As soon as they got on the floor, the song that had been playing ended, and to Leo's horror, a much slower song started to play. Charlotte smiled like the Cheshire cat and pulled him deeper onto the floor.

"C'mon, Leo," she called to him cheerfully. Leo fearfully let her drag him to the center of the dance floor.

He awkwardly stood in front of Charlotte as the other dancers began to move to the music, scared out of his wits. Charlotte wrapped her arms around Leo's neck, and he was afraid he'd start sweating again, or worse, light a fire. He didn't need another unnecessary trip to the Fire Department.

Leo timidly put his arms around Charlotte's waist; it was pretty much the most awkward moment of his life.

He took a step back. She took a step forward. They went back and forth like that, going in circles and swaying and whatnot, and after a while, Leo found it pretty easy. Slow dancing wasn't _that _hard. It just made you feel really, really uncomfortable.

Charlotte looked up at him with her sparkling blue eyes.

"You're a good dancer," she commented. Leo felt his face go hot, and he nearly tripped on his own feet. Was it just him, or was Charlotte was awfully close?

"Um, thanks," he muttered in reply, his face still hot. Leo hoped he wasn't blushing like an idiot, which would be totally embarrassing. He tended to do that a lot.

As Leo danced, he began to notice for the first time how unnervingly pretty Charlotte was, which made him feel even more uncomfortable. He could see his reflection in her eyes, like glass, and boy, did he look terrified. He tried to take his mind off of Charlotte and dancing by listening to the words of the song.

_And when you're needing your space  
To do some navigating  
I'll be here patiently waiting  
To see what you find_

Charlotte smiled at Leo, her dimples showing.

"I love this song," she said softly with a dreamy look on her face. Leo didn't know how to respond to that, so he just kept dancing.

His hands were sweating. He nervously kept dancing, very aware of the girl with her arms around his neck.

Charlotte closed her eyes and leaned her head down on Leo's shoulder, and he tensed. This was a whole new level of awkward. Leo cursed under his breath as Charlotte murmured the words of the song. Her breath tickled his neck.

Would the song just hurry up and _end _already?

The song continued on:

_I won't give up on us  
Even if the skies get rough  
I'm giving you all my love  
I'm still looking up, still looking up_

"Leo?" Charlotte said softly. Leo anxiously craned his neck to look down at her.

"Yeah?" he asked shakily, his voice betraying him. He sounded more nervous than he had hoped to be.

Charlotte lifted her head from off of his shoulder, and was about to say something next, but she didn't get to.

_BOOM._

The room shook. Leo and Charlotte staggered, nearly bumping into another couple. A nervous murmur passed over the crowd, and everyone stopped dancing, startled. Leo looked around as the music drearily played on in the background.

"What _was _that?" asked Charlotte over the noise, looking up at Leo in confusion. She still had her arms around his neck, and she clung to him in fear.

"No idea," he muttered back, arms still around her hips. He glanced around the room at the other nervous guests.

Thinking the moment had passed, some couples continued to nervously sway to the music. Others still muttered their doubts, sticking together in groups. Other people whipped out their phones.

Cool, thought Leo, despite the situation. The whole thing kind of felt like a horror movie.

_BOOM._

The lights went out. The music stopped. Now_ everyone_ was scared.

Leo's mind went straight to Piper, Annabeth and Percy. Wherever they were, he hoped they were okay. It would really suck if them or anyone else here got hurt.

Leo took in a nervous breath. It was dark, but not dark enough that he couldn't see. Scared, Charlotte took her arms down from around his neck and gripped Leo's shoulders, her nails digging into his skin. It hurt, a _lot,_ but Leo was way too freaked out right now to protest.

_BOOM!_

The ground shook with such force, Leo thought it was an earthquake, but sadly, it wasn't. Something came over Leo, and the hairs stood on the back of his neck. Before anything could happen, he instinctively ducked, and he grabbed Charlotte's arm and pulled her to the floor.

The next few minutes were hazy. There was a crash. Someone screamed. Then something came flying through the wall.

Whatever-it-was came in through the kitchen, and flew right over Leo and Charlotte. It crashed into one of the snack tables by their right, the chocolate fountain crashing to the floor. The guests shrieked in terror, and began to panic.

Leo was still sprawled on the hardwood floor, Charlotte to his right. He couldn't move; he was frozen in shock. In the darkness, Leo could hear more people scream. The majority started sprinting for the front door, but as soon as they reached, there was another "BOOM!" and a second creature burst through the wall where the door had been. Obviously scared out of their wits, the people turned around and ran to find a different exit.

The first creature picked itself up from where it had crashed into the snack table, only a few feet away from Leo. It slowly stood to its feet, it's dark skin almost invisible in the darkness.

It turned around to face the room, and Leo took in a breath, his chest tight.

The creature was unlike anything he had ever seen. It was eight feet tall on all fours, with pitch-black, human-like skin and glowing red eyes that looked like they were full of molten lava. It snarled, and Leo caught a glimpse of sharp, bloody fangs the size of bananas that didn't quite fit in its mouth. The monster's long, sharp horns glinted in the light. The beast took a step forward, and Leo saw a flick of its long, demon-like tail. It smelled bad, too. He could've smelled the sulfur from all the way across the room.

Leo backed away from the creature, Charlotte following his lead. She kept muttering, "Oh my gosh, oh my gosh, oh my gosh," over and over again. She sounded just as scared as Leo felt.

To Leo's left, a random girl stopped running and pointed at the creatures.

"Monsters!" the girl screamed.

Despite the situation, Leo rolled his eyes. It was a little too late for that.

In all the chaos, Leo could see teens pour out of hallways, confused as to what all the ruckus was. One glance at the monsters, and they quickly joined the panicking crowd. Everyone screamed, obviously terrified. It kind of looked like Black Friday at Wal-Mart.

Leo nearly peed his pants when the whatever-it-was opened its mouth to speak.

_"Where are you, little supers?" _said the creature, its eyes searching the room. Its voice sounded like a thousand nails scraping across a chalkboard, which you probably know sounds horrible. Leo's hands flew to his ears, and so did Charlotte's. The monster's voice was enough to make him go deaf.

Oh crap. Leo was a super, wasn't he?

_"Come!"_ screeched the monster over to its partner as Leo removed his hands from his ears. _"Let us feast on the flesh our matron gave to us!"_

Leo watched as the creature nearest to him took a few steps forward, closing its eyes in concentration. Then it took a good, long sniff. He watched in horrified fascination as it opened his eyes again, a malicious grin on his face. Then he turned, and to Leo's horror, focused his glowing red eyes on him, licking his foaming lips with his forked, black tongue.

_Crap._

The monster reared. Leo yelped. Charlotte shakily got to her feet and ran screaming in the opposite direction.

So much for being brave.

Then monster lunged.

Leo was saying a prayer to himself, promising God he'd go back to church if he got out of this one alive, when something flew over him and hit the monster flat in the face with a loud _PANG!_

The monster collapsed in midair, the shield that had nailed him in the face clattering to the floor.

Leo spun around to see where it had come from, and his heart stopped.

Standing at the other side of the room were three individuals. Leo could tell that one was male, and the other two female. Each wore a different color suit, like the one you would see in a comic book.

One wore green, one wore purple, and one wore gray.

They had different designs and symbols on their suits. The male in the green's suit displayed a trident. It had different patterns in different shades of green all over it, and he wore a mask that covered his hair and eyes like one of those cool motorcycle helmets, and the only area Leo could see was from his mouth, down. His suit had short sleeves, and a pair of boots that completed the outfit nicely.

The girl in the purple had some type of bird on her suit, and its wings seemed to spread out across her chest, like it was trying to fly. She wore a mask like the boy's, except it was in different shades of pink and purple. One side of her suit was sleeveless, and the other had a long sleeve, and she wore a belt with a sheath for her dagger, and long, dark purple, knee-high boots.

Leo knew the other girl.

Masteria's suit had the face of an owl, with intricate gray designs all over her suit. Likes the others, she wore a mask, too, but the only things it didn't cover were her calculating, gray eyes. She and the other girl both held daggers in their hands, while the guy held a full-blown, wicked-looking sword. The blades of each weapon seemed to glow in the dark, much like the creature's eyes.

_"Alphas," _hissed the monster that hadn't had its face bashed in. It sounded like it had a bone to pick with them. _"You have killed my brethren once, but I will not let you do it again. PREPARE TO DIE!"_

It pounced. The beast sailed across the room, over the many freaked-out teenagers, and came to a skidding halt right next to Ugly #1. Then Ugly #2 focused its glowing red eyes on the Alphas, letting out a low, piercing growl.

On the other side of Leo, the Alpha's quickly advanced.

Before Leo could register what was happening, the first monster (Ugly #1) ran towards the approaching supers, and Leo was right in its path. Leo tried to move to the side, but he knew he'd be too late. It was moving as fast as a freight train. He'd never make it out of the way in time.

Leo shut his eyes tight, waiting for the monster to step on him and flatten him into a flapjack, but the guy in the green ran onto an overturned chair and jumped. He landed right on top of the monster, and brought down his sword on its neck.

Instead of being beheaded, the monster exploded into dust, most of which covered Leo.

"Gross!" Leo yelled, spitting out the foul-tasting grime. Though the Alpha had saved his life, Leo's outfit was ruined, and now he smelled like sulfur. The stuff got into Leo's mouth, too; It was pretty much the nastiest thing he had ever tasted.

"Your welcome!" said the boy in green, who landed on the floor in a crouch. He picked up his glowing sword from the pile of dust, and then ran off to the side and joined the other Alphas.

Leo stood to his feet, still covered in monster-dust. The first monster was definitely dead.

Ugly #2 did not seem to be happy with that.

_"NO!" _shrieked the remaining monster. _"For that you shall DIE! Matron, aid us!"_

Immediately, the ground began to rumble, and Leo fell on his bottom.

"What's going on?" he asked no one in particular. Through the darkness, Leo could see that the other panicking party-guests fell on their rumps, too, and shook along with the hardwood floor.

"Stand your ground!" Masteria yelled to her two teammates. Then the rumbling suddenly stopped.

At first, nothing happened. Leo saw that as a good thing, but Ugly #2 smiled a creepy smile, not moving from its position.

_Crack._

At the sudden noise, Leo, scared and generally freaked out, looked down. The floor…it was _cracking._

_CRACK!_

Leo quickly backed away as the cracks in the hardwood floors spread across the room. Others backed away, too. Something – some_one _ - was trying to get in through the floor.

_SNAP!_

The floor under Leo's feet went up in splinters. The impact threw Leo backwards onto the floor, which he hit, _hard. _Lying on the floor, Leo could hear the screams and cries of the terrified teenagers as they scrambled off of the dance floor. His head hurt a lot, and as he looked up, groaning in pain, Leo realized that he had bigger things to worry about.

The monster had called back-up.

At least a dozen creatures identical to the first emerged out of the huge, newly-formed fissure in the floor. Each one looked bigger and more menacing than the last. They were all inky black, like the first, and had glowing red eyes and razor-sharp fangs and claws. In a heartbeat, Leo realized something else: they all had a taste for supers.

That's when a little voice in the back of Leo's head decided to speak up.

_Now would be a good time to use your powers, huh?_

His powers – should he? It had been a really long time since he actually put them into use – he didn't like to dwell on those times – but was he capable of using his powers for good after his mother's death? After all, Team Alpha could handle it, couldn't they?

Leo got his answer when the boy in the green ran towards one monster, and it swatted him aside with it's paw. He crashed through a table and into the far wall, his once wicked-looking sword falling out of his hands. Leo could hear him groan from across the room.

"Hydro!" the other Alpha's cried.

Leo winced at Hydro. He had gotten his answer. The superhero didn't look so fresh. Leo didn't have much time, but the thing he was about to do would be crazy, even for him.

First part of the plan: get the monster's attention.

Leo glanced at his surroundings, looking for something that could be useful. A bazooka would've been nice, but all Leo had to work with was a statuette someone had donned with a hat and a bust of Abraham Lincoln.

Leo held the bust of Honest Abe in his hands, looking for some monsters to target. A couple of them were heading towards the currently comatose Hydro, while the others were targeting the female Alphas. The two girls slashed at the creatures with their daggers, giving it their all. They looked to Leo like they could handle them just fine. Hydro, on the other, was still defenseless.

Leo sighed. Hydro _had _saved his life. He might as well return the favor.

Right before one of the monsters could have a Hydro-kabob, the head of the 16th President of The United States of America hit it in the face. "Eat LINCOLN!" yelled Leo from where he was across the room. The two monsters that had been after Hydro turned their attention towards him, and Leo gulped.

_"DIE!" _one of the monsters screamed at Leo. As they quickly approached, Leo stood his ground. He desperately didn't want it to have to come to this, but there seemed to be no other way out.

_7 feet, 6 feet, five…_the two of them were getting closer and closer, their oily, black skin glinting in the moonlight. _Oil. _Leo knew what to do.

Leo stood at the ready, not backing down. He had to time this perfectly.

_Three, two, one._

Leo's arms ignited in flames.

They were moving too fast to stop. As soon as Leo's arms went ablaze, the monsters to back away, but they slid right toward him. As soon as he touched them, they went up in flames, and the air smelled smoky and putrid. The sulfur didn't help much. The smell of roasted monster made Leo have the sick thought of a barbecue.

Thank God, the only people in the room were a small group of screaming couples, the Alpha's, and Leo. No one else had seen him use his powers.

Leo turned back towards the Alpha's to see how they were doing. No one had seemed to notice his little light show, because they were still fighting to the death, but Leo did notice that one of the monsters had strayed from the fight, and was quickly heading towards him. Leo stood his ground again, ready to do an encore.

When it reached him, Leo tried to side-step the monster, but failed. The ground was covered in flaming monster goo. When Leo tried to step to the side, he slipped, and to his horror, the monster caught his arm - _in its mouth. _Dark spots danced in Leo eyes - the pain was too much. He cried out in agony.

"AGHH!" Leo screamed as the monster tried to tear his arm off. It felt like a thousand, huge needles were being stuck into his arm. He nearly blacked out from the pain.

_SWISH –Thunk._

To Leo's confusion, a shining, bronze dagger embedded itself in the creature's eye, and it immediately dropped Leo to the floor before collapsing.

Leo landed on his arm, and it felt even worse. When it hit the floor, the monster disintegrated on impact.

Standing behind it was the Alpha in the purple.

"Not today," she said with a smirk.

Leo smiled in thanks, but took in a sharp breath, wincing in pain. His arm still hurt like hell.

She quickly crouched down next to him, leaving Masteria to fight the rest alone.

"Aren't you going to help her?" asked Leo with clenched teeth. He was sweating, and he was pretty sure the red liquid coming out of his arm wasn't Kool-Aid.

"Yes," said the girl as she reached into her belt for something. "But you kind of look hurt, don't you think?"

Leo shut up as she wrapped a bandage around his arm. He watched her with unwavering eyes. The way she moved..her voice...it all reminded him of someone. Leo was about to make a connection when the pain shot up his arm, and he groaned in pain. It hurt too much; he'd have to figure it out later.

"Geez," said the Alpha as the rapped the bandage around tighter, noticing Leo's pain. "You're bleeding a lot. Here," she said, pausing to grab something out one of the pockets in her belt.

She pulled out a Ziploc with little golden lemon-square looking thingies inside. She took one out of the bag, and held it out to him.

"Eat this," she commanded him, the sounds of the fight raging in the background.

"What is that?" Leo asked, eyeing the bars warily.

"Medicine," she told him, and Leo took in another sharp breath. Man, his arm hurt. Medicine didn't sound too bad right then.

Leo took the bar from her with his good hand, and took a small bite as she watched.

Saying that the "medicine" tasted good was an understatement. It tasted just like home. Leo didn't know how it was possible, but what he thought was lemon squares tasted just like his mother's cooking. He could taste an entire meal: chicken quesadillas, _arroz con leche_, and other things he hadn't tasted in years. He gobbled it down in a nanosecond.

"More," Leo croaked, begging for seconds, but the girl "tsk"-ed and shook her head.

"You can't eat too much," she told him quickly, stuffing the Ziploc back into her belt. "You might burn up."

Leo snorted. "Burning up" wouldn't be a problem for him.

She finally finished bandaging him up. When she was done, she smiled in satisfaction.

"There," she said finally as she stuffed the bandages back in her belt. "All better."

She sounded like Leo's old pediatrician from when he was little. Leo tried to flex his arm, and succeeded. To his surprise, his arm felt considerably better.

"Don't I get a lollipop?" he asked, but she wasn't paying attention. She was busy watching Masteria fight the monsters. After a moment, she turned back to him.

"Be careful," she warned. "Any more stunts like that, and you'll get your arm ripped off."

Leo didn't like the sound of that.

"Okay," he promised. 'Okay' must've been all she needed to her, because she quickly sprang to her feet, grabbed her knife from the pile of dust, and went back to help her friend.

Leo shakily got to his feet. He stretched out his arm, testing it. It still hurt, but it didn't feel broken. It seemed pretty okay to him.

A small flame danced in the palm of Leo's good hand, and one of the monsters seemed to notice.

_"Fire!" _the monster shrieked, which grabbed the attention of the others. They all looked at Leo withvwide glowing, red eyes. Instead of fighting, they all stopped what they were doing and backed up into a corner, seemingly trying to become one with the wallpaper.

_"Fire!"_ they cried in unison, their horrible, scratchy voices mixing together. Leo had to cover his ears again. _"Fire! Fire is bad!"_

The creatures were afraid of fire? Leo made the small flame in the palm of his hand bigger and brighter, and coolly approached the monsters, who only tried to flatten themselves against the wall even more. Now _Leo _was the monster.

He knew had to hurry up and get this over with, because it was only a matter of time before they realized that they were much, much bigger than him and outnumbered him a hundred to one.

"Fire is bad, huh?" said Leo to the whimpering creatures. He let the fire spread from his hand up his good arm. "Then what do you think of this?"

Leo let his entire body ignite, being careful of his injured arm, and the group of monsters screamed like little girls. Since they were all pressed against each other in their pursuit to get away from Leo, this would be easy.

All Leo had to do was touch one, and the others caught up in flames, too. A few seconds later, the room smelled like someone was trying to barbecue ten thousand pounds of roadkill. Out of the corner of Leo's eye, Hydro began to stir, and Leo smiled in satisfaction.

Then, just like always, Leo's plan backfired.

The oil from the skin of the monsters had gotten onto the walls, so when Leo ignited the monsters, he accidentally ignited the wall, too. The flames spread faster than he had anticipated, and Leo realized in horror that he had just set fire to Charlotte's house.

He yelled out a not-so-appropriate curse word.

"Help!" Leo screamed as the flames spread across the walls. That's when Hydro decided to come in.

Before he saw it coming, Leo smelled salt water. Then came an ocean breeze, and then came a ten-foot-tall wave that drenched Leo _and _the wall.

For a minute, Leo was caught in the wave. Then, after the water settled down, he found himself sitting on the floor in a puddle of salt water, coughing up the stuff. Now Leo smelled like salty sulfur (which is _not _a nice smell).

_Great_, thought Leo, looking down at his once white shirt and black jeans. Now his outfit was _totally _ruined.

Leo felt a hand on his shoulder and turned to see who it was.

Leo was surprised to see Hydro smirking down at him.

"Your welcome – again," he said flatly. Leo jerked his shoulder away, scowling at Hydro. No thank you for saving his life? Whatever, thought Leo. But the Alpha didn't have to be such a jerk.

Leo shakily tried to stand, but all of the excitement had really taken a lot out of him. He managed to get to his feet, but he staggered. Leo nearly fell, but the girl in the purple caught him before he could.

"Whoa," she said, clearly concerned. "Careful there. You need to relax. That was quite a show, hot-shot." Leo was so drained from the night's events, he became putty in her hands. Relax? That sounded nice. Tired and drained, Leo felt like taking a nice, long nap.

Before he could close his eyes, however, Leo realized that Charlotte's party was ruined.

"Charlotte!" he yelped suddenly. The girl nearly dropped him, startled by his sudden outburst.

"Who?" she began, but Leo tried to escape her grasp so he could get up to find Charlotte.

"Charlotte," he said again, more urgent this time. "Where is she?"

Through the hole in the wall where the first monster had made its entrance, Leo could see flashing lights, and the sound of sirens filled the air.

"The police," said Hydro, who was staring off in the direction of the approaching N.Y.P.D. He turned to face the girl holding Leo.

"Mage do you think you can talk to them?" he asked her. Leo looked up to see the girl, Mage, nod.

"Sure," she said. Then she gently let Leo down onto the section of the floor that hadn't been jacked up.

"Stay here," she told him before heading off in the direction of the police. Leo was too tired to get up; the ground was feeling pretty nice right now. He'd stay right here, just like Mage told him too.

Leo examined the damage, his head spinning from the night's events. The tables and chairs were overturned and lying across the room. Various snacks like cheese puffs, tortilla chips, and crackers had been strewn across the floor during the fight, and a large puddle of punch had gathered in one corner. A section of the wall was charred and smoking, and a broken statuette head lay on the floor not so far away from Leo. So did Abraham Lincoln's nose; let's not even start about the dance floor.

Watching all of the damage, Leo felt guilty. It wasn't technically his fault, he knew, but he still felt bad. Charlotte had wanted this night to go perfect; it was supposed to be her popularity pitch. She wanted to be remembered by it. Now, she'd be remembered all right, just not for the reason she wanted to be. Leo really hoped she'd be okay.

"Are you _kidding_ me? Are you _seriously_ going to let her do that?" someone whispered over on Leo's far left. He turned, and saw Hydro and Masteria. They were talking about something, and from the way Masteria kept motioning with her hands, Leo could tell it was important.

"I guess," replied Masteria in a tone full of doubt. Leo could only see their back, and not their faces.

"I trust Mage," she continued. "After all, she saved my life, and he saved yours. I think we should give him a chance."

Hydro grumbled something that Leo could not hear. Then Leo heard footsteps coming from the other side of him, and he turned to see who it was.

Leo's heart sank into his throat when Charlotte stopped in front of him, a dark hospital blanket draped over her shoulders. She looked horrible compared to how she looked when the night began.

"Hey," was all she said, casting Leo weak smile. Then, before Leo could say anything, she crumpled and fell to her knees right in front of him, and Leo gathered up his strength to reach out to her.

Leo wrapped both of his arms around Charlotte, trying to comfort her in any way he could, and she sniffled. Her house had pretty much been destroyed. So had her reputation. Leo wouldn't blame her if she started to sob.

Some police began to come in to investigate. A big, fat, burly guy and a much skinnier, younger-looking cop were the first to come in. The duo almost looked comical, but Leo didn't have the heart to laugh right then.

More police poured in, some taking pictures and DNA samples and other stuff like that. They asked the little party-guests who hadn't run away lots of questions, interrogating them like on a cop show, but none of them bothered Leo and Charlotte. They seemed to know to stay their distance.

Leo glanced around the room with sleepy eyes, they rested on Mage, who was talking to a group of police officers. Leo couldn't hear what she was saying, but after she was done, all of the police started nodding and rubbing their chins. Then she said something else, and they all shook their heads, too. The whole ordeal was odd, but Leo was too tired to question it. When she was finally finished, Mage caught Leo's gaze and cast him a small smile, but Leo was way too exhausted to return the gesture.

Leo turned his attention back to Charlotte.

"It's going to be okay," he said into her now disheveled blonde hair. Leo knew he was lying, but if it made Charlotte feel better, he didn't care.

It might've been a little off topic, but Charlotte's hair smelled like coconut. The smell did little to staunch the smell of the sulfurous smoke wafting through the air. Leo tried to position his bad arm around Charlotte so that he felt comfortable, but every move he made, he winced. His arm still hurt, and a lot. Leo hoped he wouldn't have to go to the hospital later on.

Charlotte cried for a little while. Then she hiccupped. Then she sniffled and sneezed a couple of times, and then she started crying again. After a while, she just sat limp in his arms, and it took Leo some time to notice that she had fallen asleep. Seeing Charlotte sleep made Leo feel even more tired. She breathed in little puffs, blowing a strand of her hair back and forth as she did. Leo thought it was kind of cute.

After a few minutes of playing with Charlotte's hair, Leo rested her head in his lap and glanced at his watch. The watch was covered in monster dust and grime, but he could make out the time. He almost flinched when he saw how late it was. It was nearly 1 in the morning.

Miss Neena was _definitely _going to kill him.

Hydro and Masteria were still standing nearby, arguing about God-knows-what when. Leo, fed up with their stupid conversation, called over to them.

"Masteria, I don't think – "

"Hydro, won't you just listen to her – "

"Oh,_ come on, _An – "

"HEY!" called Leo over their bickering. They both visibly jumped and spun around to look at him. Even though the two of them were practically glowing with authority, Leo was too tired to feel intimidated right then.

He pointed to Charlotte, who was snoring with her head in his lap.

"Can I get some help here?"

Masteria's shoulders slumped. "Sorry."

Hydro came over and picked Charlotte up, bridal style, her head lolling back as he did.

"Where do I put her?" he asked Masteria, who joined the two of them shortly afterwards. She finally sheathed her dagger after a long night of fighting. She sighed, her gray eyes more tired-looking than Leo felt.

"Put her in one of the cop cars," she instructed Hydro, and he made his way across the room to the open front door. When he was gone, Masteria immediately turned to Leo.

"Thank you," she said quickly. She spoke in a rushed tone; Leo had a feeling that she didn't want Hydro to hear what she was going to say.

"We couldn't have defeated the monsters without you," she continued. "It was very brave, what you did. Team Alpha will be eternally grateful."

She smiled at Leo, and he yawned in return, the words not really registering in his weak and weary mind.

"Glad to have helped," Leo replied in between another yawn. He stretched, but winced. He shouldn't move his arm too much.

Leo tried to get up, but his legs were weak and stiff from sitting for so long. Before he could fall on his butt again, Masteria caught him by the arm and pulled him to his feet.

"You should get home," she told him, noticing how tired he was. Leo nodded.

"What's your name?" she asked. Leo, not really thinking about it, said "Leo Valdez". Then he rubbed his eyes and yawned again.

Masteria could've used his name for a great deal of things – it could've appeared in newspaper headlines, TV, the radio – but for some odd reason, Leo trusted her with it. Leo's powers were his most private secret, and he had just shared their existence _and_ his name to a complete stranger.

Wow, today was a first for everything, wasn't it?

Today marked the first time Leo had used his powers for good; it was also the first time he had ever shared his secret with someone. Even his foster family didn't know. With that in mind, Leo really hoped Masteria wouldn't squeal.

"Thank you, Leo," said Masteria once again. Then Hydro came back in without Charlotte. She must've been snoozing inside one of the police cars.

"I gotta go," Leo told Masteria, jerking a thumb at the open door. "Again, I was really glad to help."

Masteria smiled. "Bye, Leo. Safe travels."

Leo turned to go and nearly knocked into Hydro. He looked pretty miffed.

"Thank you," he said after a short moment of silence and hesitation. "For saving my life. I didn't mean to be such a jerk before. I'm just not used to being saved, that's all." He told Leo truthfully. Leo was pretty surprised to be getting an apology out of him. "It's usually the other way around."

"Your welcome," said Leo with a worn-out smile. "And thanks for saving my life, too. It would totally suck if I died, wouldn't it? The girls would go crazy."

Hydro snorted.

"Keep dreaming, hot-shot," he said as Leo made his way past him towards the door. Leo yawned again, smiling this time. He guessed that 'keep dreaming' counted as a goodbye.

Outside, Leo ambled past Mage, who was talking to a group of paramedics that had arrived shortly after the cops had at the scene. They kept nodding, agreeing with whatever Mage had said. As Leo passed, Mage momentarily took her eyes off of the paramedics and smiled at him.

"Thanks for helping!" she said as he passed by. Leo turned to look, and waved. He was way too tired for conversation now.

"My pleasure! Thanks for the bandage!" Leo replied with a salute from his bad arm before heading down the sidewalk. As he did, he felt like he was being watched, but he didn't dare turn to look. When Leo reached far end, way, way down the block where it was dark, he risked a glance back.

Leo bit his lip. He _was _being watched, but he wasn't in any danger.

Mage had been watching him go the whole time.

* * *

Leo hated mornings a lot more than he hated school, and that was _definitely_ saying something.

He stretched in bed, sore from last night. Then Leo scratched his head of curly brown hair.

It felt like it had all been a dream, but Leo knew that it hadn't. His arm was still bandaged. He still smelled like sulfur, even though he had taken a considerable amount of showers. His outfit was still ruined and hanging out of the hamper, across the room, too. So why did it all feel like it never happened at all?

Leo sat up. Bright, cheery sunlight poured in through the open window. Strange, Leo didn't remember opening it. Heck, he never opened it at all since they moved here. It was too cold out for open windows.

Leo got out of bed, still suspicious, but went to close it, anyway. The cold, autumn air hit his bare chest, making him shiver.

Leo shut the window, the sunlight in his eyes. A sunray seemed to shine right into his room. Leo was about to close the drapes when he noticed the light reflecting off of something on the floor, something shiny.

Forgetting the drapes, Leo bent down to pick it up.

It was a business card.

Leo sat down on his bed, the card in his good hand. The card was a shiny, metallic silver, and had the letter "A" in red on both sides, but that was it.

How are you supposed to put one letter on a business card? Leo thought to himself. What kind of card was that?

He stared at it some more, truly intrigued as to how it got there. Maybe it had blown in through the open window, he thought. Maybe Miss Neena or Adam had came in and dropped it yesterday. Leo held it up in the sunlight, trying to see it better.

Then, something happened - something that made Leo finally think that he was going off of the deep end.

The red "A" on the card suddenly faded, and disappeared. A hidden message appeared in its place:

_"Leo Valdez,"_ the message began, and Leo nearly dropped the card. First of all, it knew his name. Second of all, his dyslexia wasn't acting up – it usually did – so that was kind of shocking, too. Third of all, Leo was pretty sure that the message hadn't been there a second ago. Leo turned it over on the other side, but all it still had was an "A". He peered down at the card to read the rest of the message.

_"Leo Valdez," _Leo began reading again, _"Report to this address as soon as possible: 12802 903__rd__ Drive, 57843. Team Alpha needs YOU." _

Leo's heart pounded in his head, the fullness of the situation dawning on him. In all of his excitement, he felt his hands got hot, and dropped the card on his lap before he could incinerate it. His hands ignited in white-hot flames.

Team Alpha wanted _him._

Leo took in some deep breaths, and tried to calm down. He powered down, and his good hand involuntarily went to his bad arm, the card still in his lap. He fingered the bandage that Mage had wrapped around it last night, and came to the conclusion that he couldn't let anyone see this – "this" being everything. The bandages. The card. No one could know. No one could find out at all.

Leo stood, the springs in is bed squeaking as he did. He rested the card down on his dresser, and quickly changed out of his plaid pajama pants and into a pair of old jeans. Then he pulled on one of his favorite tees (it read, "Come to the nerd side. We have Pi."), and wore a hoodie to cover up the bandages. Leo picked up the card off of the dresser, and glanced at it one more time. Better make sure that there were no more hidden messages.

Leo groaned when he flipped the card over on the opposite side, and the letter "A" disappeared. He rolled his eyes as another message appeared:

_"From Mage."_

Leo's hand went to his bandage again. Mage…Masteria had been talking to Hydro about her yesterday, Leo remembered. Something about Mage saving her life. She had said something else, too, but Leo couldn't remember what it was.

Leo slid the silver card into his pocket, along with his keys and his iPod.

He was going to the address. He was going to find out who these supers really were.

Leo was going to join Team Alpha.

* * *

**OMIGOSH I AM FREAKING OUT RIGHT NOW. I AM DONE. I HAVE TYPED 13,800 AND SOMETHING WORDS AND NOW I AM DEAD. DEAD. D-E-A-D, DEAD. DO NOT BOTHER ME FOR THE NEXT TWO HUNDRED AND THIRTY-SEVEN THOUSAND YEARS.**

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